If you are a care leaver or care experienced person, Royal Holloway provides support for you even before you join us.
What is a Care Leaver?
The legal definition for a care leaver is a person who was living in care in the UK for at least 13 weeks since the age of 14 and including at some point during the age of 16 and 17.
Join our welcoming community
We are here to help you in transitioning from leaving care to starting at university. Royal Holloway has a richly diverse campus community and our student services are solely dedicated to supporting the broad range of needs of our students. We welcome students from all over the world to join our close knit and friendly campus community. Please find below our support for our care leavers community. If you have any questions, please contact studentservices@royalholloway.ac.uk.
For applicants
- We provide our care leavers and experienced care students with one to one advice with a staff member at the university.
- We encourage you to set up an initial meeting with our Student Financial Advice Manager who will help you to ensure everything is in place with your student loan and to address any concerns they may have about transition to university.
When you are studying
- Throughout your time at Royal Holloway, you will have key communications sent to you for example, reminders to re-apply for your student loan, or in advance of assessments and exams.
- We offer outreach sessions and activities, pre-application help, guidance for offer holders, careers advice and support after graduation.
Accommodation
We offer a range of accommodation and to find the best place to live to suit your needs, please visit our Accommodation section on the website.
Funding support
We provide funding that is especially care leavers with additional funding available in the form of bursaries and grants. We also provide support for students seeking asylum and support for those with discretionary leave to remain.
Bursaries
We offer bursaries worth £3,000 for each academic year to full-time students from England who are assessed as care leavers. The £3,000 is paid as a cash award in three instalments over the academic year. To be eligible for this bursary, you must be applying for a full-time undergraduate degree commencing in 2024, be aged between 18 and 25, and assessed as a care leaver.
For more information please visit our Bursaries section on the website.
How do I apply?
There are strict guidelines that must be followed to receive this support, and supporting documentation will be required. If you think you may be eligible, please contact the bursary and scholarship team who will be able to help you: student-enquiries@royalholloway.ac.uk or 01784 414240.
Am I eligible?
To be eligible for this bursary, you must be:
- ordinarily resident in the UK
- applying for a full-time undergraduate degree starting in 2024
- aged between 18 and 25.
You must also fulfil one of the following criteria:
- looked after by the state for at least 13 weeks since the age of 14 or
- have 'independent - other' status on Student Finance England.
Contextual Offers
Visit our Contextual Offers to see if you may be eligible for a reduction of up to two grades lower than the original entry requirements for a course that you would like to apply to advertised on the website or in the undergraduate prospectus.
