Declaring parental education on UCAS form

[tommytintack]

Hi

DC will be applying through UCAS this autumn, and I understand there is a question about whether your parents went to university, which helps with contextual applications.

Neither of us went to full time university - but DH was sponsored by his employers to do an HNC one day a week at the local Poly in the early 1990's.

Do we tick yes or no? Gut feeling is no, but I don't want to get it wrong and affect DC's application (they may be eligible for a contextual offer due to other circumstances)

Thanks

Tick no.

Tick no. I had the same issue when applying for uni 20 years ago - my dad had similar qualifications. We ticked no.

Sorry pressed return too soon. HNC is the equivalent of the first year of a degree. Unis are trying to look at the possiblity of awarding a slightly lower offer to children from families where neither parent has completed a degree, on the basis that those parents might be in a position to give a little more support to their own children with regards to the entry process, studying etc.

You would not be in the wrong to tick no.

Has the question changed? I thought it was 'Do any of your parents, step-parents or guardians have any higher education qualifications, such as a degree, diploma or certificate of higher education?'
Your answer to that question would be 'yes'.

I was always intrigued by this question. I don't think it makes any difference tbh. Prepared to be disavowed of that though. DH and I didn't go to university, but then not everyone our age did, most of our friends didn't, and yet we are all in high salary, high status occupations.

I was always intrigued by this question. I don't think it makes any difference tbh.

It's mostly used for monitoring. Universities will often have something in their access & participation plans about target proportions of students whose parents haven't been through higher education. Some universities - or some courses within some universities - will make adjusted offers for people who declare themselves first in family to go to university. It's risky, though, as it encourages gaming (or outright lying). There is no reliable evidence you can request to show somebody hasn't done something, so anyone can tick "no" in the hope they get treated favourably. We gave up using it as a criterion when we had children of doctors saying they were first in family in HE because their parents went to medical school in a different country and it wasn't called a university.

Very few unis give advantageous offers to first in family to go to uni - it’s for monitoring only, so it really doesn’t matter.

So a diploma eg would be my mother's Cert Ed (2 years of residential teacher training) and my children's grandfather on the other side was sponsored by an employer to do some kind of degree. Those would have had to be declared if now and if they were the parent,

"A Higher National Certificate (HNC) is a level 4 vocational qualification that takes one year to complete full-time, or two years part-time. They're practical-based courses that can prepare you for either work after completion or studies at degree level." I am not sure about an HNC The useful quote in the other post above says "higher education qualifications" - diploma etc so I am simply not sure if an HNC counts - it possibly does.

Tick no.

I believed it could be considered as part of a contextual offer, like the university access summer schools which are aimed at those who are first in their family, FSM, carer, looked after or previously looked after, POLAR postcode. Ds couldn't access a few summer schools as they were prioritising the above and I feel that was right as both Dh and I went to uni.

I think they are looking to see if you have a degree, so tick no.

Although in the guidance notes someone quoted it says degree or diploma - so not just degrees.

I'm wondering what the wording is now, if they've re-phrased the question as mentioned above by pp.

There's a yes, no and prefer not to say (or something similar) option. If a student ticked the latter, what would the impact be?

I've actually checked with UCAS since this post, and they advised to put "not known", as then if DC tick any of the other contextual boxes for that particular University, they would get in touch to clarify.

Of course its a 'yes' HNC is a higher education level qualification