Support available for estranged students

02 Oct 2020

As part of plans to enhance the support offered to students who are estranged from their families and our University’s commitment to the Stand Alone pledge, the Undergraduate Access Scholarship of £1000 a year will now be available to estranged students

Following a successful bid to the University’s Coronavirus Emergency Hardship Fund, estranged students across all years of study will eligible for this financial support for the academic year 2020/21. This is in addition to any other University support they are eligible for.  At the moment we are only able to confirm this award for estranged students for this academic year.

Estranged students are young people studying without the support of a family network, usually due to a long-term breakdown in the relationship with their parents or guardians.  Many students in this situation may not identify with the definition of “estranged”; it is likely to include groups who have no communicative relationship with their parents/guardians and this situation is not likely to change, they have been or are homeless or ‘sofa surfing’, they have experience of foster or local authority care but are not classed as a Care Leaver, both of their parents have passed away and they have no alternative family support in place.  

Mirroring the support already in place for care experienced students, estranged students will now also have named contacts at the University. Hannah Armstrong and Ailsa Skelly from the central student support team will take on this role for both groups of students, alongside support from the Widening Participation team, with Sophie Flieshman remaining as the named contact for pre-entry care experienced and estranged students. 

Whilst some students can be identified through information from Student Finance and will be contacted directly, there will be some students who will not be on this database and therefore will need to be identified in different ways.  

Students may self-identify as estranged to staff members they know well and feel comfortable with. If you are aware that a student is estranged from their family then please encourage them to get in contact with their named contacts so that they can assess their eligibility for the Undergraduate Access Scholarship and offer them the enhanced support package. Hannah and Ailsa can be reached on studentsupport@manchester.ac.uk.

If you could include an update on this support in your wider communications to students, that may also encourage estranged students to self-identify.