Our Deputy Member of Youth Parliament Josh Lancaster has recently finished his exams and is looking forward to going to university in September. But, this whole period leading up to university can be incredibly stressful. From waiting to find out if you’ve got the right grades to worrying about finances, as well as all of the pressures of planning and preparing. In this article Josh reflects on the often-unseen pressures and anxieties of preparing to go to university, especially for those Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND).
Exam Result Anxiety
As August approaches more and more young people begin to think about their results day. Whether that’s GCSE or A level it can be an incredibly anxious time for young people and it can be also incredibly frustrating because it may feel for some as though those around them don’t have a level of empathy to be able to understand what they might be going through. There was often a narrative that whatever the results are on the day that it doesn’t matter but for many young people this simply isn’t the case.
Personally, this year I am hoping to go to university in September. As a young person with SEND there can be an additional layer of pressure due to the extra planning and commitment that has gone into being able to get to this point. Often young people with SEND are planning these types of events a year or even two years in advance and that can mean a lot of people are involved that they may feel they have let down by not achieving the results they need to in order to be able to attend where they planned to go.
More generally for young people both with and without SEND there can be significant financial implications of not being able to go where they had planned to because of their results. In many cases accommodation must be booked months in advance and can be very expensive. For example, paying a deposit for accommodation that you might not be able to use as a direct result of your grades can have a significant impact on not just young people, but also on their families too. Often it is families support young people with the cost of going to university and for many young people that can be a great sense of responsibility to their family as there is already financial implications of going to university despite the fact you’ve not even started yet.
All of this can have a significant impact on young people and their families which often isn’t seen or thought about by decision makers because it occurs behind closed doors. However, this affects many young people up and down the country and put small strain on services supporting children and young people.
Student Finance
For many young people student finance is a big sticking point of going to university. Unfortunately, the costs of university are only going up, but the financial support provided to students is remaining the same and in some cases is getting lower.
Student finance is assessed based on household income. But where this becomes problematic is when you potentially have a sibling who is earning. For example, my brother is an apprentice, so he has to be declared on the household income form despite the fact that he doesn’t contribute in any way to the household. This has a direct impact on my financial support from Student Finance England and leaves me in a more difficult position than I would have been had I not had a sibling. My student financial support doesn’t even cover the cost of my accommodation, let alone the cost of living and all the other associated costs.
Ordinarily people would say go out and get a job, however as somebody with a disability it’s not as easy as just being able to find any job and support myself that way. Although I am more than capable of going out to work, it can sometimes feel as though people with disabilities are penalised for aspiring to achieve things such as going to university. When we’re not at university some of us are eligible for Universal Credit as it is difficult to find work. But this stops when a student loan replaces it. This means we have to find work alongside studies to receive an income, which the student loans don’t cover. No matter how much we want and need to work, it isn’t easy. Some of us have to work out how/if we can get there, how accessible is the job itself and is it physically possible for us to do a particular job.
These are just some of the things that people don’t see day to day so don’t necessarily think about. But it’s a real struggle for many young people up and down the country who are in a similar position.
Whether you have SEND or not, we’d be interested in your thoughts and experiences of heading off to university, trying to find work or searching for apprenticeships.
Let us know!
Josh
