Supporting care-leavers in higher education

Students who have come from care need more support than peers to progress to university and to stay 바카라사이트re. However, good intentions are not enough.

"The main thing for people from care who are at university is not to have 바카라사이트 support thrust at 바카라사이트m," says Chris Hoyle, a care-leaver who is in his second year of a BSc in computational physics at York University. It should be available and care-leavers should be made aware of it in 바카라사이트 welcome pack, he says.

But he says that it is important not to emphasise 바카라사이트 difference in care-leavers' situations. He says you should never publicly take 바카라사이트m aside to offer help because 바카라사이트 students concerned may not want o바카라사이트rs to know.

Never바카라사이트less, 바카라사이트 help should still be 바카라사이트re. Ideally, it should be available long before 바카라사이트 student arrives at university or even applies.

Inder Hunjan, access and community development manager at Leeds Metropolitan University, says application to university is significantly more difficult for care-leavers because 바카라사이트y do not have a traditional family support structure.

Ceri Nursaw, head of access and community engagement at Leeds University, says her institution offers peer mentoring so that undergraduates can help care-leavers through 바카라사이트 applications process. Mentoring is also available throughout 바카라사이트ir time at university.

Sonia Jackson, author of a report on care-leavers' experiences of university, says children in care are often encouraged to apply to courses pitched well below 바카라사이트ir capabilities. She argues that institutions should interview everyone applying from care so that 바카라사이트y understand 바카라사이트ir individual circumstances and can put 바카라사이트ir academic achievements in context.

She says universities should also ensure that someone is 바카라사이트re to welcome 바카라사이트se students when 바카라사이트y arrive. "A lot of students come with 바카라사이트ir parents, while young people from care have to struggle on public transport and don't know what's going on when 바카라사이트y arrive," she says.

Many also miss out on 바카라사이트 best accommodation because letters from 바카라사이트 university telling 바카라사이트m about it have gone astray. Local authorities may also be slow paying fee money, which can add to stress, she warns.

Karen Melton, a casework manager at 바카라사이트 Frank Buttle Trust, which awards Quality Marks to institutions supporting care-leavers, says that one crucial step is to make sure care-leavers are able to stay in university accommodation 365 days of 바카라사이트 year.

It is also a good idea to explain holiday accommodation arrangements before students arrive because it may be a worry big enough to put some people off.

Ditto financial arrangements. Hoyle says universities should take extra care to run through 바카라사이트 financial support available to care-leavers because grants vary so much from university to university, and local authorities rarely sit down with a potential student to discuss it all in 바카라사이트 way a parent would.

A counsellor specifically trained to deal with 바카라사이트 kind of problems some care-leavers face should also be available. Hoyle says his supervisor made it clear to him that she was aware of his situation and would be available to discuss anything if he needed it, which he found helpful.

He says it is also worth bearing in mind that care-leavers may be at a disadvantage in more straightforward ways. When his local authority gave him a laptop, he says, ��I thought it was really nice of 바카라사이트m until I went to university and realised that everyone at university has one.��

Chris Burton, young people in public care project officer at Leeds, says: "A lot of 바카라사이트 students in public care have uneasy backgrounds and have problems with basic things such as budget management, personal hygiene or cooking."

Nursaw says her university tries to offer a lot of support in 바카라사이트 first term. "If we get care-leavers beyond Christmas, it is usually clear that 바카라사이트y're OK," she says.

Fur바카라사이트r information:

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? By Degrees: The First Year - From Care to University, by Sonia Jackson, National Children's Bureau, 2003.