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 pre-entry guidance 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
We recognise that having no communicative relationship with either biological parents can have a significant impact on educational opportunities and outcomes.
Student Finance England classifies estranged students as:
-
you have “not communicated with either of your biological or adoptive parents for 12 months (this is flexible) before your course begins and the situation is irreconcilable.
-
you can demonstrate your financial independence for three or more years through employment or benefits (consecutively or non-consecutively) before your course begins.’
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