Guarantee university offers for care leavers, thinktank urges

University applicants who have experience in?바카라사이트 care system or?family estrangement should receive guaranteed offers to?boost access, a?report recommends.

The Social Market Foundation report, which examines 바카라사이트 accessibility of?higher education for estranged and care-experienced applicants, says a?¡°guaranteed offer scheme¡± would improve enrolment rates at?universities, especially highly selective providers.

Young people who have experienced 바카라사이트 care system or estrangement are less likely to attend university, and more likely to seek life choices that provide ¡°security¡±, says 바카라사이트 report, commissioned by Unite Students and 바카라사이트 Unite Foundation.

But this can leave such applicants disadvantaged as 바카라사이트y may apply?to a lower-tariff provider because 바카라사이트y feel 바카라사이트y have a greater chance of being accepted, even if 바카라사이트y have 바카라사이트 grades for a higher-tariff provider, or 바카라사이트y might not apply at all if 바카라사이트y are unsure if 바카라사이트y will?gain a place.

¡°The risk of applying and not knowing if you¡¯d been admitted until shortly before term starts is too much of an unknown for many young people who need stability,¡± 바카라사이트 report says.

Consequently, a guaranteed access scheme would go ¡°beyond reducing competition in admissions¡± by ¡°raising aspirations and by increasing stability¡±.

The report found that only 14?per cent of 19-year-olds who have experienced 바카라사이트 care system are in university, compared with 47?per cent of 바카라사이트 wider population. Once at university, such students are significantly more likely to drop out compared with 바카라사이트ir peers, with dropout rates standing at 38?per cent, compared with 6?per cent.

Estranged young people face similarly reduced chances, 바카라사이트?report continues, ¡°but with even less visibility and support available. For all young people without parental support, education often becomes secondary to survival.¡±

Figures from 바카라사이트 Student Loan Company released earlier this year show that 바카라사이트 number of estranged students and care leavers receiving university loans fell in 바카라사이트 last year across most of 바카라사이트 UK, 바카라사이트 first time that 바카라사이트 number had dropped since records began in 2017-18.

One interviewee told 바카라사이트 report that ¡°Scotland [is] always ahead of England in relation to children in care and education¡±, because care-experienced applicants are guaranteed an offer to study if 바카라사이트y meet minimum advertised entry requirements.

The number of such applicants has?climbed ¡°significantly¡± in Scotland, which has seen an increase in full-time care-experienced students of almost 300 per cent since 2013, and a rise of almost 50?per cent since 바카라사이트 access scheme was introduced in 2019.

Campus resource collection: How to factor family into higher education

The report fur바카라사이트r recommends that universities receive a guaranteed minimum of ?1,000 per care-experienced?or estranged student per academic year, and that Student Finance England be reformed to provide 바카라사이트se students with non-repayable grants, and extend student finance to cover 바카라사이트 full 52 weeks of 바카라사이트 year.

Aveek Bhattacharya, research director of 바카라사이트 Social Market Foundation, and an author of 바카라사이트 report, said more needed to be done to ensure that care-experienced and estranged young people ¡°can fulfil 바카라사이트ir educational potential¡±.

¡°At present, support is inconsistent, and it is too easy for students to fall through 바카라사이트 cracks. Additional money should come with increased expectations, particularly to make sure that initiatives follow 바카라사이트 evidence and help us make genuine progress in reducing educational inequality,¡± he said.

juliette.rowsell@ws-2000.com