'I'm Trying Not To Be Homeless': The University Students Facing Hurdle After Hurdle Over Summer

Yahoo

2 days ago

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'.
Georgiahas 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 almost half of care-experienced students struggle with poor mental health.
And for those who do overcome these hurdles, many then do not receive adequate support while studying – care-experienced students are 38% more likely to withdraw from their course than their peers.
'You're just desperately trying to pass. I'm desperately trying not to be homeless for three months'
Georgia, who just finished her third year, told HuffPost UK she faced several issues with summer accommodation at her university.
Though her local authority agreed to pay for her student lodgings, she claimed her university wouldn't provide a breakdown of which fees covered the summer months to her council, which then delayed payment.
The authority has since paid her back, but Georgia said this happened four months after she paid the money herself.
'The accommodation services have one protocol, but in order to pay for the accommodation services, you've got to go through revenue, who have their own protocol and don't really care about the accommodation services protocol.
'And then you've got the local authorities protocol, which is... completely different,' she said.
All of this meant she spent hours in an exhausting 'three-way argument'.
Private renting (in Georgia's second year) brought a new set of struggles. She couldn't secure a guarantor, and couldn't get help with her deposit upfront – she claimed her local authority paid her the promised amount for the deposit eventually, but it was long after she had moved in and already footed the bill.
When her private landlord decided to boot her out of her rented room to decorate over the summer, she said she was stuck and couldn't access accommodation.
'The genuine response from the local authority in that situation was, 'yeah, well, you should have planned sooner for your summer accommodation'. I was like, 'but I did',' she shared.
Georgia claimed the local authority suggested she could stay at her mum's – even though her council took on the role of corporate parent when she entered care, meaning her mother's role as guardian had legally ended.
After trying this out of desperation, Georgia said, 'It just didn't go well... we just couldn't do it'.
'It got to the point where [the council] ended up having to pay for me anyway, because my mum was like, 'It's not working out, I'm going to make her homeless if you don't deal with it'.'
The experience can be isolating and 'othering'
Even where year-round campus accommodation is available, students are often placed with first-year students for the duration of their studies, while their peers move into shared housing, Bracey told us.
While Georgia's experience is a little different, she still felt 'othered'.
'It's very frustrating because you're constantly having to reduce yourself to 'the care experienced one' to get around the issues of: I just need somewhere to live,' she stated.
It affects day-to-day interactions with other students, who stay on campus over the summer for resits, too.
That's not just because other students are 'just desperately trying to pass [exams while] I'm desperately trying not to be homeless for, like, three months'.
When she explains her care experience to other summer residents, she said 'it's kind of like the look of pity, of 'oh OK... I'm so sorry''.
'I should have just said I'm resittingthe year. I should have just said I've got an exam to do, sort of thing,' she said.
'I also have interests and lived experiences of stuff regardless of my care experience... I've just done a biomed degree, I like dogs... And it's, like, I'm pained. It pains me. It's just frustrating to have to deal with all that.'
Become wants better CEP accommodations as standard in universities
Speaking to HuffPost UK, Bracey said university support for care leavers varies.
'Too often, support only kicks in once a young person is in crisis or struggling, or they may not apply at all if they can't see a viable way of supporting themselves throughout the course,' she said.
The charity's End The Care Cliff campaign calls for dedicated tenancy deposit and rent guarantor schemes from local authorities for all care-experienced young people.
They also want to see a Designated Member of Staff (DMS) in all institutions.
Bracey said 'nothing beats a Designated Member of Staff (DMS) who understands these students' unique challenges – financial struggles, loneliness, and accommodation worries – and can advocate across the university'.
Become's Propel search helps you to find whether your university has a DMS. If not, Bracey said your university will have a dedicated webpage for care-experienced student support.
'The key is proactive – rather than reactive – support,' Bracey ended, 'which is far more likely to happen when there's a named contact and senior management buy-in, with clear responsibility for supporting the full student journey for care-experienced (and estranged) students.'
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