Children with Illnesses and Disabilities uni applications

[lifeturnsonadime]

Hi we are just starting to look at uni options for my eldest who has disabilities (mental health) which meant that a large part of his education was away from a formal environment.

He was unable to be in school from year 7 - year 12, has an EHCP. He ended up doing the minimum number of GCSEs and was pretty much self taught to get entry to a local 6th form achieving decent grades which were an 8, a 7, 3 6's and a 5. The 5 in Maths and 7 for English Language.

His mental heath is in a place where, medicated , he can look at uni options.

I understand that there are contextualised offers for young people from backgrounds which appear to be based on social mobility which wouldn't apply but I wondered if there is anything for people who have experienced a disadvantage due to the kind of issues my son has faced in education?

I have had a quick search on the internet but can find information only on support at uni not at the admissions phase. There may be nothing but i just wondered if I am missing anything.

Having slightly less pressure would be advantageous to his mental health. I wouldn't want him to apply to a course that he was incapable of achieving the grades for iuswim.

My dd had a contextual offer, it was based on her autism diagnosis and mental health reasons. That said she messed up one a level and they basically ignored that rather than her GCSEs.

What are his predicted a level grades? That's your starting point. Contextual offers tend to be one or 2 grades maximum.

I also highly recommend a gap year - dd worked full time for a year and she really found it beneficial when she started university because she learned to cope with people, work flow etc.

Some universities are better than others, also consider staying at home for university as most of the challenges are around halls we found.

@lifeturnsonadime

most universities have some sort of fair access or widening participation scheme, disability is one criteria.
I’m currently researching with my son, he has ASD and was in the care system.
He’s found the courses he’s interested in and I’m having the initial conversations with admissions tutors.
I’ve already discounted one but I had a great conversation with Worcester this week and we are going to visit in the new year.
The other thing to think about if he doesnt get the grades are foundation years,
The course my son in interested in has an intregrated foundation year which focuses on things like study skills and academic writing.

Some universities will include disabilities, including mental health, in their contextual offer schemes, but not every uni or every course within a uni. There isn’t a central directory of university contextual offer schemes.

As your son has mental health issues, rather than focusing on the contextual offer I would focus on shortlisting by other criteria which will be more meaningful day to day for him e.g. does he need to be within a certain distance of home, or on an easy transport route home? Campus or city? Does he have a particular sport or interest which helps his mental health, that he’d need to be able to continue? What support does he need and do the unis offer it?

He would also get support through DSA.

I would second looking at foundation years - especially for students with additional needs these can be so valuable as a chance to settle in before hitting the ground running in first gear

Thanks all, he's just year 12 now so no predicted grades in play yet.

I was just really trying to gear up to see what's out there at this stage.

it is a pity there is no guide to what uni offers which contexualised offer as that would be a really useful resource.

I am trying to encourage him to have some form of gap year/ foundation year but he's really anti that idea at the moment. I think he's really proud of himself that he's managed to re-integrate at age appropriate for A level given what he went through, I'm certainly very proud of him for doing so. But it is important to him to progress in line with his age peer group. He's also autistic.

Some really good advice on looking at what universities offer, thanks for that. He already does have a clear idea of that.

So I assume it's a case of looking through the individual websites that the individual contextual offers which is what I will start the process of at some point, although perhaps it might be a bit too early at this stage.

The contextualised bit is usually already factored in through their reasonable adjustments at GCSE and A level which are already designed to level the playing field. However, their school would be able to explain the context in their reference.

Which unis take into account ill health and disabilities? I haven’t found any so far, as someone has said it’s meant to be accounted for by accommodations at school (which we all know often don’t happen!). I do agree that it should be considered along with some of the other criteria

I think a contextual offer is usually a grade less than the standard (so AAB becomes ABB/ABC). They are available for any person experiencing significant barriers to study. College should be e supporting you on this, ask to speak to HOY

Have a look at summer schools at local universities or charities like The Sutton Trust. Having a recognised disability does help secure a place.

They well be supported by mentors to complete UASC applications.

Our local universities offer different opportunities and support for young people from varying backgrounds.

Summer school applications open around now for year 12, closing in the spring.

summerschools.suttontrust.com/

Application opens January

You have to fulfil the criteria set by the institution don’t you?

Each uni sets its own criteria for contextual offers ie a lower offer than usual - ones off the top of my head that use disability include Bath, Royal Holloway, Southampton possibly? It's worth using widening participation and/or contextual as a search term on each uni website.

Doing a Sutton Trust course or other widening participation course (Bath, Reading, Exeter def do these) can also lower offers.

Worth bearing in mind that contextual offers can both be lowered offers made, or a flag on a students application for additional consideration if they miss the (usually standard) offer. Do you know what course your son will be looking at?

College should be able to tell you exactly which universities are suitable and I would choose from them.

@lifeturnsonadime

bless him, he has done so well, I can understand why he wants to keep up with his year group. My son’s year hasnt gone as planned but I managed to convince him that a gap year would be a really great thing to do. He is quite happy at the moment raking in the cash at Tescos, thinking about buying a car and saving towards uni.

OP, do you belong to the WIWIKAU Facebook group? There's a lot of discussion on there about the level of support offered by universities for students who are autistic or require additional support for other reasons. Based on anecdotal evidence, my impression is that it's often the newer universities that are better geared up towards providing additional support. It's clear that there's a lot of variation between universities. In your DS's case, I do think it makes sense to focus primaily on support available once at university rather than having a huge focus on whether your DS will qualify for a contextual offer. As a PP has said, it also sounds like there's a lot to be said for staying close to home, ideally within commuting distance so that if he finds that living in halls is too much to cope with, that doesn't automatically mean abandoning his degree.

In the application form there are boxes to tick and info in extenuating circumstances - school or college can send in evidence.
Going to open days and talking to the DSA people is useful to find out if they are paying lip service or are taking it seriously says a lot. There will a lot of students who say they suffer anxiety or have asd it has to be evidenced/diagnosed. When doing the rounds with DD who has DSA and an interrupted school career we had some really good advice and she dismissed one as the disability people at the open day were barely on the case while another one was fantastic and the person doing the open day was a postgrad with the same disability so they sat down and had a coffee. She went elsewhere but it gave her a better idea of what good support should look like