Care leavers go to university – and succeed

Citation

(2005), "Care leavers go to university – and succeed", Education + Training, Vol. 47 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2005.00447fab.007

Care leavers go to university – and succeed

The first ever study of university students with a care background shows that care leavers can benefit from higher education if they are given the right kind of encouragement and support. Fewer than one in 100 care leavers makes it to university, compared to almost half of young people living with their own families. The five-year study, carried out by the Institute of Education’s Thomas Coram Research Unit, tracked three successive groups of care leavers attending 68 universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, Southampton, Edinburgh and Leeds. The study was commissioned by the Frank Buttle Trust.

Most of the students did well at university, and their general verdict was that “uni is great”. At the end of the five years, 33 per cent had graduated and 39 per cent were still studying for their degrees. The drop-out rate was 10 per cent – less than the national rate of 14 per cent. Only one student out of 129 had failed. The participants showed extraordinary resilience, many having survived severe abuse and neglect from their birth families. Others had parents incapacitated by mental illness, drug misuse or alcoholism or had lost their entire families through genocidal wars, political persecution or AIDS. The key factors in their success were their own determination and being placed in a foster family that gave high priority to education.

The findings show a clear relationship between the level of support provided and successful completion of the course. Most students who dropped out were from the first cohort, before implementation of the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000, which legally obliges local authorities to provide financial and personal support for care leavers up to age 24 in full-time education.

But the research showed huge variations in the level of financial support offered by different local authorities. Some students could cover their living costs only by taking two or three part-time jobs. Others had to go without food to pay their rent and travel costs. The students who did best were the ones whose authorities provided the most generous support.

The study also shows that many able young people in care are discouraged from applying to university because they do not feel they can rely on support from their local authority.

The report makes 43 recommendations, including:

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  the Government must ensure that all local authorities fulfil their legal obligation to provide financial and personal support to university students who have been in their care;

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  children in care should be enrolled in high-achieving schools, not just anywhere with an empty place;

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  foster carers should be funded to provide continuing support and accommodation as needed throughout the student’s higher education course; and

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  every university should have a comprehensive policy to recruit, retain and support care leavers.

Going to University from Care, by Sonia Jackson, Sarah Ajayi and Margaret Quigley, is published by the Institute of Education.