#HomeAtUniversity

A rent-free #HomeAtUniversity is the ONLY evidence-based intervention that results in estranged and care experienced students going to university, staying at university and completing their degree at near on the same rate as any other student.

The Unite Foundation scholarship has been running since 2012. The charity has awarded almost 900 scholarships so far, and 449 Unite Foundation graduates are already pursuing their dreams.

The charity has worked over 30 university partners across England and Scotland, and the team works closely with Unite Students; the charity’s accommodation partner and principal corporate donor, alongside other charitable Trusts who supported our scholarship expansion pilot.

This is a huge achievement for the Unite Foundation and its partners, but there are around 16,000 estranged and care experienced students in Higher Education in the UK.

In 2022, Unite Foundation commissioned JISC to analyse 10 years of its data to understand the impact of providing a rent-free, year-round #HomeAtUniversity for estranged and care experienced students.

Research showed:

+ Unite Foundation students stay on course

Scholarship students progressed from 1st to 2nd year of study at the same rate as non-care leaver students.

+ Unite Foundation students get their degrees

Scholarship students completed their degree closer to the rate of non-care leavers.

+ Unite Foundation students get ‘good honours’ degrees

Scholarship students were within 3 percentage points of non-care leaver students in getting 1st or 2:1 class degrees.

Our vision:  a future in which care experienced and estranged students in the UK attend university, progress in their studies and graduate at the same rates as other students. We want to ensure that all care experienced and estranged students have a safe and stable home at university so they can succeed.

You can read the full research report with executive summary, methodology and detailed findings here.

If you’d like to know more about how your university can better support care experienced students with a #HomeAtUniversity please get in touch with Kate Brown.