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IMPACT | Helping estranged students excel
£27,000
DONATED BY THE HOWARD DE WALDEN ESTATE TO OUR ESTRANGED STUDENTS
41%
OF ESTRANGED STUDENTS IN THE UK HAVE CONSIDERED WITHDRAWING FROM UNIVERSITY
59.7%
OF ESTRANGED STUDENTS ARE REGISTERED IN THE LONDON AREA
Helping estranged students excel Without the backing of a family network, attending University can be especially challenging for estranged students. In support of the local community, The Howard de Walden Estate is funding accommodation scholarships, to reduce the financial burden and allow estranged students to focus on reaching their potential at Westminster.
O
utside of tuition fees, accommodation is the largest cost a student needs to meet. Estranged students, for whom staying in their family home is not an option, have no way of avoiding this expense. While most students will return home for the holidays, those who are estranged require year-round accommodation, and with the cost of living so high for students in London, the total support they receive from Student Finance is hardly enough to cover the higher rents, commuting charges and inflated cost of general living expenses. A student is defined as ‘estranged’ if there is an irreconcilable physical and emotional distancing between them and their family members. The cause of estrangement varies, but these students often have unstable family backgrounds and have removed themselves from the family home without intervention from the local authority. As such, they rarely receive housing support and a Stand Alone report found that over 30 per cent of estranged students were registered homeless or had considered registering as homeless before their course began.
Stand Alone Pledge Westminster has a long and proud history of enabling social mobility and supporting disadvantaged students to ensure they get the most out of higher education. In 2016, Westminster signed the Stand Alone Pledge, publicly committing to supporting students who are studying without the support or approval of a family network. Fulfilling this commitment, Westminster now
still struggle to have the full funding, security and support they need to focus on their studies without the concerns of financial instability. The Howard de Walden Estate scholarship The Howard de Walden Estate is the freehold owner of most of the buildings in the 92 acres of Marylebone. For the second year, as part of its commitment to support the local community, the
I WAS WORKING IN A LABOURING JOB, SO REDUCING THIS HAS BEEN BENEFICIAL IN ALLOWING ME TO DIRECT MY ENERGY WHERE IT IS NEEDED MOST offers estranged students bursaries, year-round accommodation and a number of scholarships in partnership with the Unite Foundation. However, with over 100 registered estranged students studying at the University, many
Estate is funding two accommodation scholarships for estranged final-year students at Westminster. Thanks to the funding (now totalling £27,000), these students are able to reduce their part-time working hours so that they can
