Image: Lilong Dolrani [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Flickr
The Office for Students advices on how coronavirus is affecting students without family support
England’s regulator has focused on how universities can help estranged students in the latest of a series of briefings to help institutions cope with the coronavirus pandemic.
Students without family support, such as care leavers or those who are estranged from their families, could be “particularly vulnerable” to accommodation or financial problems caused by the coronavirus, the Office for Students said.
In the briefing, published on 14 May, the OfS explained students may feel “isolated and anxious” as other students move out of halls and teaching goes online. At the same time care leavers and estranged students who want to start university in September might find it harder to find accurate information and advice.
A survey of 251 care experienced and estranged students in the first week of March revealed that around half worried about “their ability to get food and other essentials during the pandemic”, and more than half said they were concerned about feeling isolated.
Around while 62 per cent raised fears about how they would earn money as part-time and casual work dries up, while a further 62 per cent were worried about how they would complete their courses.
To support the students, the OfS said universities should make sure that students who stay on campus during lockdown “can access sufficient food and medical and cleaning supplies during this period”.
Some universities have extended deadlines and relaxed the rules on extenuating circumstances to take the pressure off students without family support, the OfS said, while institutions could “divert student premium or capital funding towards ensuring students without family support have the right equipment” to complete their work.
The regulator has already confirmed that universities can use their student support and disabled student premium funding to give their mental health services a boost, and money that universities have committed to activities that can no longer happen can be used to give students financial support.
The briefing is the third in a series from the regulator helping universities deal with the fallout from the coronavirus.