Moving home

When biomedical student Georgia became one of the few care-experienced people (CEP) to go to university, she made her background clear to her institution.

At that point, she told HuffPost UK, “everything made sense”.

“All you’ve got to do is tick a box, get a letter from your local authority, and then send it to the university and student finance,” she explained.

But, she added, “after that, nothing adds up”.

Georgia has since been left struggling to find accommodation during multiple summer holidays, despite access to “well-meaning” programmes and policies.

She’s not alone.

There are over 83,000 children and young people in care in England alone. Yet only 13% of care leavers (young people who have been looked after by a foster carer since they were 14 years old) progress to higher education by age 19, compared to 46% of the general population.

This figure is even lower in Scotland with only 8% progressing to higher education by age 19.

Though advocacy charity Become’s interim CEO, Clare Bracey, said “many universities now offer year-round accommodation” for care-experienced students (which is “positive”), she also noted the support “varies”.

Money is a major barrier. Issues like not having a guarantor for the private rental market (some universities offer guarantor schemes, but Bracey said “most don’t”) may lead some care-experienced people to skip applying altogether “if they can’t see a viable way of supporting themselves throughout the course”.

We also know

© HuffPost