Support for care experienced students

Other than the significant barriers to accessing higher education for care experienced students, these students continue to face challenges throughout their studies due to complex personal lives and a lack of networks that would provide financial, social and emotional support.

It is known that more than half of care experienced students consider leaving their course and a significantly higher number of care experienced student ends up dropping out (12.8% vs. 7.5% for all students in 2017/18) (Scottish Funding Council, 2019). Having reliable, consistent relationships with a trusted member of staff is very important to care experienced students, as is access to practical support that is trauma sensitive and bespoke to student’s needs (CELCIS, 2019).

We have developed a holistic support package to mitigate some of these challenges for our students through providing guaranteed 365-day accommodation and opportunity for funded accommodation through partnership with the Unite Foundation, additional funding through our Access Edinburgh Scholarship, offer of a staff mentor, and a continuous support network to ensure that they have the time and security to focus on their studies and get the most from their student experience.

The named contact continues their relationship with successful care experienced applicants and continues to be available throughout their degree to help them navigate this process. This could include coordinating with other support services within the University on their behalf, promoting extra- and co-curricular opportunities that they could get involved with, or just being on hand to check in with as they progress through their studies.

Students are eligible for this support if they’ve been in local authority care in the UK and are under 26 on the first day of the academic year in which their degree begins (1 August for most students).