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The difficulty in evidencing family estrangement to attain statutory finance in UK Higher Education

Bland, Becca; Blake, Lucy

Authors

Becca Bland



Abstract

Acquiring statutory funding to study in Higher Education brings complex difficulties for UK students under the age of 25 who are estranged from their family, but have not been part of the care system. This paper explores the experiences of 564 estranged students and their experiences of providing evidence of family estrangement in order to access statutory student financial support. It finds that those who disclosed their family estrangement to a professional found it easier to access statutory student finance. However, the stigma around family estrangement was a barrier to disclosure as participants felt shame and humiliation when approaching a professional to support their application. These difficulties led to substantial delays in receiving statutory finance for estranged students which subsequently had an impact on their retention and equitable student experience at the beginning of the academic year. The paper concludes with key recommendations for improvements to the process of proving family estrangement. It will question the parental means-testing system itself, outlining key disadvantages for students experiencing family disruption.

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 30, 2019
Online Publication Date Oct 16, 2019
Publication Date Oct 1, 2020
Deposit Date May 25, 2021
Journal Higher Education Quarterly
Print ISSN 0951-5224
Electronic ISSN 1468-2273
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 74
Issue 4
Pages 531-542
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12232
Keywords Education
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/7418178
Additional Information Received: 2019-05-23; Accepted: 2019-08-30; Published: 2019-10-16