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UEA is committed to supporting students with experience of living in care and those with limited family support. Contact the team to find out about support available to you during your university application and throughout your studies.
Who are Care Experienced and Estranged students?
Care experienced students have spent time during their childhood in the care of people other than their parents. This may include local authority foster or residential care, kinship care with other family members, and other arrangements. Estranged students typically have no contact or limited contact with their birth or adoptive parents.
Visit the UCAS Individual Needs webpages for more information about being a student with experience of care or estrangement.
What is the CEES Network at UEA?
UEA’s Care Experienced & Estranged Student Network exists to offer information, support, and opportunities throughout your studies. Students who identify as care experienced or estranged through UCAS or in the University’s registration questionnaire will receive email updates from the CEES Network about activities, opportunities, funding and more.
You can meet with us before beginning your studies and choose to stay in touch throughout your degree. With your consent, we can liaise with local authority staff or support workers if needed.
What to expect from UEA and the CEES Network:
Specific Welcome Week social events
A small welcome pack with some helpful items to get you started at UEA
One-to-one appointments available throughout your studies
Bursary and hardship funding for eligible students
Regular updates about additional funding and campus job opportunities
Year-round campus accommodation available
Support with costs of attending graduation
We recognise that you may not want, or need, extra support during your studies, so engagement with the CEES Network is completely optional.
Care Leaver Covenant
UEA are proud signatories of the Care Leaver Covenant. Find out more about the Covenant, and UEA’s commitment to our care experienced community, at our Covenant webpage
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Get in touch
We have a dedicated email address for all prospective and current UEA care experienced and estranged students.
We welcome queries on all university topics, including:
UCAS and Clearing
What to expect when you arrive
Finance and bursaries
Support services
Accommodation
Getting ready to start your course
Visiting UEA
If you are still considering your university options, there are several ways you can explore UEA and get all the information you need to make the best choice for you.
If you have specific questions or concerns, we can arrange an individual visit to campus at any point during the application process, which will be organised just for your needs and interests. You may bring a friend, family member or guardian, or a support worker. Request a Student Shadowing visit.
Visit us on campus for an Open Day, a Campus Tour or a Self Guided Tour.
Or visit online by checking out our Virtual Open Day.
UEA’s Everwondered resource centre is packed with videos, infographics, blogs and downloadable resources to help with virtually all areas of Higher Education.
Funding and finance
UEA offers a Care Leaver and Estranged Student bursary to eligible students. Bursaries are non-repayable. The full details, including eligibility criteria, can be found on UEA’s bursaries webpage. Students are assessed automatically for UEA bursaries using information provided by Student Finance England, so new UEA students do not need to apply for this support.
Students who are irreconcilably estranged from their parents, and are not receiving financial support from them, may choose to apply for independent student status with Student Finance.
Check out UCAS’s guide to estrangement and university funding here.
For current students, UEA’s specialist Student Life Finance team can provide budgeting help and finance advice throughout your studies.
Accommodation & Guarantors
UEA offers year-round accommodation for students, if required. Students can request a room on campus over the summer break, and returner rooms are available each year for students in their second or subsequent years of study. Explore your options on our Accommodation webpage.
Information is also available if you are looking for private rental accommodation in Norwich. Visit our private accommodation webpage for details.
Most private landlords require tenants to have a UK guarantor, someone who lives and works in the UK and agrees to pay your rent if you are unable to. If you are unable to provide a UK guarantor, then you might be asked to pay rent in advance. It is likely that your guarantor will also be asked to sign an agreement to confirm their commitment to pay your rent if you are unable to.
The University is unable to act as a guarantor. If you do not have a UK based guarantor, you may choose to explore third-party guarantor companies online. For further information and advice, students can speak with the UEA Student Union Advice Service or an external service such as Citizens Advice.