Support for care experienced students

What does ‘care experienced’ mean?

Students who may be known as a ‘looked after child’ at school would be known as ‘care experienced’ or a ‘care leaver’ by colleges and universities. The definition of being care experienced is broad, and Who Cares? Scotland provide a helpful guide here.

We have information below about some of the support available to care experienced students who are thinking about higher education, and remember to check out our other articles on the LEAPS website including our S5Hub, our S6 Blog, and our Financial Support for Care Experienced Students blog post.

Support for care experienced students thinking about Higher Education

If you are considering applying to college or university, support is available. This can be provided by LEAPS (if you attend a school with which LEAPS works), your school, or local groups or services. There is also a range of support available at colleges and universities to help you access and continue in higher education. The type of support varies across institutions, but lots of information is available below and LEAPS can help you find out more.

How can LEAPS help?

At LEAPS we have a named contact for care experienced students:  Sarah Macpherson. Sarah can help you with the following:

• Advice on considering college or university
• Support during the application process
• Information about financial support available
• Emails throughout the year with relevant information and advice for care experienced students
• Introduce you to named contacts at colleges and universities
• Connect you to other support or advice services
• A friendly chat in person, on the phone or email to answer any questions – big or small!

You can reach Sarah at leaps@ed.ac.uk or by phone (see details on our contact us page).

LEAPS updates for care experienced students

If you are in S5 or S6, and you would like to receive relevant updates from LEAPS to help you explore your higher education options, you can sign-up for these here.

How to Identify Yourself as Care Experienced on your UCAS Application

If you are care experienced, we’d suggest that you identify as care experience on your UCAS application so that the colleges and universities you are applying to know from the point of your application that you are care experienced. This means that colleges and universities can consider the type of offers that they make to you in the context of your care experienced background, and there may be support available specifically for care experienced students. This will vary by institution, and it’s up to you if you take up any offers or support available, but it’s good to be informed about it – then you can make your choice as to whether or not it’s the right thing for you.

Follow our guide to identifying as care experienced on the UCAS application here.

Find some more information from UCAS, including a video to hear the views of some care experienced students on the support they received, here.

College application forms will usually have the option to identify as care experienced/a care leaver as well, again to help with information for admissions purposes and support.

Support for Care Experienced Students at College and University

Colleges and universities differ in their definition of care experienced students, so it’s worthwhile researching who they consider to be care experienced and what support they offer them.

To help you get started with this, we’ve pulled together some links to helpful sections of college and university websites for care experienced students.

It is worth noting that there should be a named point of contact at every university in Scotland for care experienced students who you can contact for information and advice, and most colleges have someone in this role too. We’d always recommend that you contact the college or university you are interested in if you have any queries about the support they offer to care experienced students, so that they can provide you with up-to-date information. 

Find details in our University and College Named Contacts for Care Experienced Students blog post.

HUB for SUCCESS: supporting those with care experience to get in, stay in, or return to education

The HUB for SUCCESS (Support for University and College for Care Experienced in South East Scotland) is a collaborative project concerned with improving post-school educational outcomes for people of all ages with experience of care. Find out more here. 

Other Useful Links

https://www.whocaresscotland.org/
https://propel.org.uk/UK/
http://www.unitefoundation.co.uk/
https://www.celcis.org
http://www.nnecl.org/