We are committed to providing fair access, information, advice, guidance and support to Care Leavers, Care Experienced and Estranged students. As one of these students, you may be entitled to additional financial support as well as and on-course support.
If you are a Care Leaver
At the University of Reading we define a care leaver as a young person under the age of 25 (upon entry to their course) who is registered on their first undergraduate programme and:
- you are a 'home' student for fee purposes
- you have been “looked after” by arrangement of the local authority for at least 13 weeks since the age of 14 and in care on your 16th birthday.
- Care includes but is not limited to; foster care, semi-independent living, residential care homes.
- It does not include care workers or applicants who have been involved solely in the provision of care.
If you are Care Experienced
At the University of Reading we recognise that any time spent in local authority care can have a significant impact on educational opportunities and outcomes, and therefore provide pre-entry and on-course support to students who have spent any time in local authority care.
You are considered care experienced if you have:
- spent time in local authority care
- you are registered on a full-time undergraduate course
- you are classed as a 'home' student
- you are under 25 years of age at the start of their course
If you are Estranged
Estranged students are those who are studying without the support and approval of either of their living parents due to a break down in their relationship and this is unlikely to change- this might be biological or adoptive parents and sometimes wider Kinship carers such as grandparents, aunts or uncles. There are many complex reasons for being estranged, and no two circumstances are the same.
Student Finance England classifies estranged students as:
- A student who has not had contact with either or your parents for 12 months or more, or
- A student whose relationship with their parents has broken down in the last 12 months and has no expectation this will change in the near future.
SFE will require confirmation of the estrangement from a professional person outside your family who knows about your circumstances, for example a Teacher or Social Worker, Doctor, Counsellor, Housing Support Worker, Police or Student Welfare/Adviser at College/School.
They may also ask you to provide up-to-date evidence of your estrangement every year while you're studying. To see if you qualify as an estranged student, you can check out guidance issued by the
Accessing Support
We have various teams, schemes and mechanisms to support you:
Welfare support
Financial support
Accommodation support
Careers support
Useful links for additional support