OVER the past 12 months, I have been struck by the experiences of a group of students in a vulnerable position that few recognise ... they have become estranged from their families.
Estranged means they have no family support and there is a permanent breakdown in their relationship with their parents or guardians.
I have been working with Stand Alone, a charity which supports estranged adults and students who have faced homelessness and poverty as a result of their estrangement, to call for more support.
New figures show there are more than 145 university students in Scotland who have no relationship with their parents.
The reasons for estrangement are often very complicated with abusive families, clashes of values and not being accepted for their lifestyle choices being among the most common.
It happens more than people realise and my concern is that our higher and further education systems are built on an assumption that students have parental support. These estranged students often experience severe financial difficulties, loneliness and the threat of homelessness during the holidays or after graduation.
That is why I have launched my calls to offer better support to help self-funding students who are defying the odds.
I would like to see the same level of financial support for estranged students that is rightly given to care experienced students. This would mean the introduction of an accommodation grant and a bursary to ensure financial independence. I am also calling on the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) to ensure that these young people are exempt from their parents’ income being taken into account when working out how much funding they are entitled too.
I’d also like to see universities and colleges offering support pastorally during the application process and while in further or higher education. There are already lots of great examples of this happening across Scotland, with staff going above and beyond to help estranged students and I’d love to see this replicated in every university and college as standard practice.
These young people need more support and I’m looking forward to sitting down with the Deputy First Minister, Minister for Higher and Further Education and SAAS later this month to discuss what can be done to make sure estranged students receive it.
One of the major issues for many estranged students is the specific barriers they face when it comes to who will be the “guarantor” for tenancies on flats they rent.
Unlike other students, they can’t call on mum and dad to sign agreements that guarantee their rent. Several students have shared stories with me as they faced homelessness and nearly dropped out of university as a result. I am keen to see “corporate parent” arrangements being put in place that would mean the university acts as the guarantor.
If you can achieve university entry and your qualifications with no parental support, you must be incredibly gifted. If we let these students down, we are losing the skills of some very talented young people.
I look back on my lecturing career and I wonder if any of the students who dropped out suddenly might have actually been estranged young people who got into difficulties because of lack of parental support.
I also wonder how many young people think they have to rule out going to university altogether because they worry they won’t have access to support. Access to further and higher education has always been a priority for me, and I want to ensure we get it right for every young person in Scotland and that includes those who are estranged.
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