Worries about the University of Sussex support for students with ADHD amid staff changes

[mumisworried]

Hi, I initially posted this on a wrong thread. Apologies for posting this again. My son has an offer from University of Sussex. He has ADHD and he needs a lot of support. When I went to see the Disability department on an open day they were extremely lovely but I also heard they are going through redundancies and they are planning to remove many student-facing positions. As much as I understand all universities are in dire need of money, but I do not want to send my son to the University of Sussex if they cannot provide support they promised me a year ago (my son deferred an offer). I also heard all student facing jobs might be gone. I am surprised how detached this is, they need to understand what students need is a face to face care. I have got someone working there so I thought my son will be safe and looked after, but I do not think it will be the case as she will be probably leaving. I am now thinking about talking to my son and their mentor to see what actual options are available at University of Sussex, has anyone got any information how students will be supported?

Have you applied for DSA? My son is autistic and he will have a mentor through the DSA scheme.

As someone who has worked in academia for many years, my advice is if your child needs more pastoral or educational support then choose a post-92 university. The academics at Sussex are far more research focussed and don’t concentrate so much on the students.

Our next door neighbour works at one of the universities in Nottingham and she’s in an admin role they have had a Huge shake up and lots of roles have been made redundant, but she said a lot of the support staff non-admin roles are being got rid of too as universities are struggling. I don’t think this will be specific to Sussex but more across the board. I think you’ll have to contact them and just ask the questions as to what support they can facilitate in light of the restructure.

Another option being (unless Sussex is local to you) would be him going to a more local uni and living at home to have family support and then hopefully during the academic day they can support as best they can. It’s a rubbish situation for all students but especially those who need additional support.

Universities don’t really do ‘care’ that’s kind of the point.

I say that as someone who went to Sussex in the 90s before I got my ADHD diagnosis and as someone whose DD is going there this September with multiple diagnoses. She’s an adult and I’ll be picking up the pieces of when her choice to move away to uni goes tits up.

DS picked a less regarded, smaller university as they had been great on the open days regarding disability support. After he started at uni he found the pastoral support had been slashed, his course had also been severely affected due to funding cuts. It has been a struggle, he has another 2yrs, the support has been appalling and we've been quite worried about him at times.
We couldn't really have seen this coming, but if we'd had warning he'd have chosen differently.
It's difficult as so many unis seem to be struggling, but I'd go elsewhere if you've had warning.
It does astound me that they can take your money, yet provide a product so fundamentally different to the one offered.

Basically, the Home undergraduate tuition fee does not cover the costs of what is demanded. If your DC can't get through university without substantial assistance, maybe they're not yet ready for university studies? Doesn't mean that they're permanently not ready - just not yet.

Academic jobs are being slashed everywhere, and many universities have cut professional services staff to the bone.

Having seen so many threads like this on the HE board over the last few years, I honestly think that parents with children who will need a lot of support should strongly encourage them to either take a gap year (or 2 or 3 or more) or take up a uni place where they can live at home and continue with family support.

Some might thrive but I think a lot will struggle and I just think most unis are having to cut the support and (rightly in my opinion) focus the money on providing a good academic education for their students. Without that what's the point of most uni courses?

Hope your dc finds somewhere suitable OP.

The disparity between what is provided for that home fee is shocking. DS's uni very much prioritises certain subjects (mainly on the Stem side) and there is very much the feeling amongst students that they are paying to subsidise other courses. DS has 4hrs contact time, which is often cancelled or shifted online, the facilities are minimal and very run down . Library hours have been hugely cut, work often isn't marked or Ai is used. Whereas other students have many hours of contact, dedicated facilities, specific libraries and better pastoral support.
The problem is now students are paying and getting into debt for their studies, really there should be some kind of equality.

Also realise that this is probably a whole different topic.

I agree. When fees were brought in I don't think it was anticipated that all courses at all unis would charge the maximum amount. I think £9000 should be the minimum for minimum hours and courses with more contact hours should be charged more depending on the number of hours.

Afterall the general consensus appears to be that STEM graduates will go on to earn more in their careers. Why should humanity students subsidise them?

What support would your son need OP? I know that dyslexic students can get 1-1 tuition support and Dragon software but I’m ignorant when it comes to what ADHD students need or are entitled to?

Oh trust me, humanities students are subsidising no one. They’re just making the uni less of a loss than science students.

DS's uni very much prioritises certain subjects (mainly on the Stem side) and there is very much the feeling amongst students that they are paying to subsidise other courses.

There's long been internal subsidy by arts & humanities students of STEMM subjects. You need to look at International student fees to see the actual cost. That's why there's such an outcry about the University of Exeter redundancies - 85% of the 500 staff at risk are in the humanities, arts & social sciences. And the university has cash reserves of over 200 million ...

100%

I am at a university where appointments to academic staff are frozen, and there are hints about redundancies. Our staff/student ration is bad - around 1: 22. But the student wellbeing service is recruiting & growing. I can't help wondering if these two things are related.

I work a 50-60 hour week during term time, but I've heard wellbeing staff say they "need" to take a day off every 2 weeks because of the pressure of dealing with so many student problems.

Massive redundancies in wellbeing support at the uni I work for.

We are all waiting for the 'online first' system to completely fuck up.

It depends what ‘support’ you’re looking for. I expect that they will make reasonable adjustments in terms of exams etc, but I doubt that you can expect much in terms of personal one-to-one ‘care’. Maybe you can hire someone privately for this (e.g. a personal tutor?).

Massively agree with @Sweetpeasaremadeforbees. I can see there’s a massive gap between what some parents want in terms of support and what is realistically available in an adult environment. If he has DSA he may get a weekly session with a mentor or equipment.
They are very much expected to be proactive and seek help and support.
Be very honest how much you are doing for him now. Many students benefit from a gap year or more.
I used to be in a uni parent’s facebook forum and so many were expecting flatmates to be almost carers.

You don’t use your cash reserves to cover operating costs though. At least not without a plan to bring operating budget into a sustainable small profit in a very short space of time. That would be really poor management.

I used to be in a uni parent’s facebook forum and so many were expecting flatmates to be almost carers.

And as an HoD, I've dealt with both the student who needs more support than anyone in the institution or flatmates can give, AND the flatmates. IT is not fair at all to the flatmates. At all.

If your DC cannot cope without detailed input from a trusted adult, they are not yet ready for university. I say "not yet", not never.They may need a couple more years of support at home - maybe even earning some money to support later studies, or doing volunteer work as a gentle induction into adult responsibilities.

We are currently applying for DSA with our DS. He's due to go to UEA in September. He has already had a gap year to do extra work and mature. He also chose a Uni close to home.
He will stay at Uni as its a campus and much more secure & friendly with less complications of travel.
DS has ASD (probable ADHD too) and struggles to concentrate to study at home as that is his safe space. Luckily he is naturally very bright.
I'd definitely review which 'type' of Uni you are applying for....the support at UEA is very good.

This sounds really sensible @IceyBisBack - I hope all is good for your DS. The step up to university is tough for all students, so I'd strongly advise he go to any & all "How to Manage University Study" style sessions - Library inductions, departmental inductions, personal tutorial introductions and regular meetings (we invite ours once a term, and very few of them actually answer the invitation, let alone attend), and so on.

And he should be prepared for the step up to 2nd year being almost as tough. That's when the work starts to "count" (of course the work counts in 1st year, but the marks don't).

Oh I completely agree. I think it's really sad how little the country actually values HE.

What I don't understand is if unis cut humanities because of less demand and expand STEM departments, surely they'll go further and further into debt because of the higher costs of running those STEM courses?

We've been asked to change timetables so they can come in only in the afternoon.
We were asked to provide a room and a bed for a student to sleep in during the day.

And lots of other bonkers things. I am baffled every day by new demands from students and their parents.