Report

Care and learning in higher education

This report from UK think tank the Social Market Foundation looks at how society and universities can support care experienced and estranged students to succeed.

There is growing recognition that society’s obligations to care experienced and estranged young people involves getting more of them successfully through higher education. However, the promise of support often doesn’t match reality.

This report explores the gaps in support for care experienced and estranged students, and suggests ways to ensure that support is more consistently available. Almost every university offers financial bursaries, the vast majority offer some form of accommodation guarantee, and some offer discounted housing too. Our best guess estimate is that the university sector spends around £10-15 million a year.

Yet the support is inconsistent, and institutions with more care experienced and estranged students have to provide greater levels of support without additional funding. A few programs have been demonstrated to make a significant difference, but there is a clear and pressing need to build a robust evidence base of impact. The system runs on goodwill, and given the budgetary challenges facing the university sector, discretionary spending on care experienced or estranged student support – particularly where unevidenced – may come under pressure.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Universities should receive a guaranteed minimum of £1,000 per student per academic year; Student Finance England should offer non-repayable grants, equivalent to an average parental contribution, for care-experienced and estranged students; Additional grant funding should come with requirements to follow evidence-led good practice, and support to identify that practice; Introduce a Guaranteed Offer Scheme for care-experienced or estranged students; Standardise and extend statutory support from local authorities for students up to graduation, provided they enrol before the age of 25.