Care experienced bursary

[Animallover2325]

Has anyone came across this yet?

@Animallover2325 , do you mean for Higher Education? It’s something that I’ve been loosely looking into as DD1 is in Y10 now and so I/we need to start planning ahead for her future, especially as she has profound disabilities.

Here is the link from the UCAS website:

www.ucas.com/finance/scholarships-grants-and-bursaries/scholarships-grants-and-bursaries-care-experienced-students

I have been looking at some university websites, and they all have their own ‘rules’ about what constitutes ‘care experienced’. DD is looking at the Foundation Degree option at the University of Oxford which seems to be a brilliant initiative to support young people who have had extremely adverse experiences.

Yeah my son already started this year and qualified for the bursary. What I wanted was going to ask is if you’re still entitled to child benefit if they’re receiving that but I eventually got through to them and they said it’s all fine. Even if they’d got a student load they don’t pay it back because it’s different from the regular one x

That’s good information to know, thank you.

it’s basically to give anyone who’s in or been in care in their lifetime the chance to be educated as they’re aware a lot if people suffer from development or anxiety/trauma related issues from their last that may affect their ability to carry out some things or learn the same as others . So it’s to protect them in work too x

I had no idea this was a thing, useful information to have for the future, thanks

That's great to know. Thank you for sharing this information.

@Animallover2325

how did you access the bursary? Ive been looking into it for my son. I may be being terribly thick about it but I can’t see whether its via student finance, ucas, the LA or university

@Ted27 , there’s more information here:

propel.org.uk/UK/

@Ted27 here you go!

They also should get preferential access to halls or student accommodation, a designated pastoral staff member and often other help, individual to each university, some of which can be extra grants.
It may be different now, but when I was working with care leavers, one person went to Manchester and one to Sheffield, doing the same subject. The Manchester one got considerably more financial support than the Sheffield one, despite their Personal Advisers exploring every Avenue.

@Giggorata thanks for the additional information, that’s incredibly helpful. After being ground down by my/our secondary school experiences, it seems amazing to me that there is financial and practical support out there for our children in the higher education area. I have had to battle ferociously for every minuscule bit of support for DD1 (15) at her grammar school - and even then it is given so begrudgingly!

I hope you will stick around the boards for the next two to three years at least so I can pick your brains when it’s time for DD to apply to university! 😅

@Ted27 all this news must be a bonus for you ahead of your boy’s departure to university this autumn?!

@EmmatheStageRat

thanks thats really helpful.

@Giggorata yes I’m already on to a lot of that. Its amazing how much the support differs, we have chosen his university based on a lot of this.

@EmmatheStageRat you should also keep in mind contextual offers. My boy was 10 points short of the Ucas requirements for his course but he meets the criteria for widening access - care experienced, disability and ethnicity - so he has a place under a contextual offer. I also found some unis more on the ball about this than others.

We applied via SAAS in Scotland. It’s UCAS for England and wales

@Ted27 thank you, that’s very helpful. I’ve always been told previously that DD1 would not be given a contextual offer because she is at a super-selective state grammar school - even though she is adopted, on Free School Meals, registered blind and diagnosed with neo-natal abstinence syndrome, autism and ADHD!

@EmmatheStageRat

hopefully the other factors would overide the school issue.

When you have an idea where she wants to go I would call the admissions tutor for the course and arrange to visit the uni privately ( not on an open day)
I dismissed one uni after the phone call. With the 1-1 visit we were able to discuss his personal situation and the contextual offer issue. The admissions tutor was very supportive, seemed to really want him on the course and primed the admissions office to look out for his application. It helped for us that his ucas points were already in the bag as he did his BTEC last year so he got an unconditional offer

@Ted27 thank you so much, that’s really useful information to have as well. DD1 is very able academically but she is currently fighting a few demons and possibly slaying a number of dragons so I fear that she may not live up to her predicted GCSE grades - but that’s okay by/for me. I think the important message I’m getting here is that there’s more than one way to skin a cat - and thankfully the Higher Education arena seems much more clued up about our children’s issues than schools?

@EmmatheStageRat

Definitely more than one way to skin a cat.
Many courses also offer a foundation year. For the course my son is on, the requirement for the foundation year is 40 ucas points, for the first year its 96 points.
I do think there will be things he will struggle with but feel it's right for him to go straight to year 1, but we did discuss it with the admissions tutor as a serious option.
I'm also glad he is having this year out, even though it isn't what he planned. Having his ucas points in the bag took a lot of pressure when he did apply. The tutor pretty much said there is a place here if you want it.
He has grown up a lot over the last 8 or 9 months, he is working, saving lots of money and just generally maturing. I can actually see him as a university student now in a way I couldn't last September.

Though he can still be a right old muppet😂

Just double checking - can this be used in England and Scotland? Not sure why I’m checking though as youngest is currently too worried to go to school. Living on hope 😂

Yes. Also care experience is the new equal opportunities category when filling out forms

Can I recommend you and your children consider the university of Bristol? I go there as a mature student with my own children and am care experienced. They are unbelievable, I cannot fault their care of me through my whole degree. Pastoral care is excellent, both in the wider sense and in the Academic school. They’ve also been so supportive financially and offer very considerable financial support- far more than anywhere else I considered.

Hi sorry I just saw thanks but we’re near Glasgow. It sounds like you have great support there. My son is so anxious all the time about asking anyone for help. Even when he was at school. I got him the bursary and they do have on his application about his care experience. He is finding certain aspects of the course difficult and I feel like calling them myself to talk to them about it so they can talk to him. He’s 17

Am I ask what kind of support you get in college?

Which university is he at? Some are superb in offering student support, others not so much. If I remember rightly Glasgow Uni have student supporters who effectively act as a mentor to students who need additional support, helping with academic support, and social/mental health etc.

Thank you for this; I’m adding Bristol to the list for my DD!

He’s at college just now, not uni