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Student services: Care leavers

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At HCA, we pro-actively welcome applications from students who are Care Leavers and offer comprehensive support to help you reach your full potential.

Care Leaver support

At HCA, we aim to do all that we can to help you in your creative journey, to make sure that you thrive and enjoy your time at HCA and ultimately achieve your full potential. 

We offer dedicated support for Care Leavers. If you are a Care Leaver your key contact is our Wellbeing Development Lead, Melissa Williams. If you have any questions about HCA, or the support we provide, please get in touch. 

All care leavers will receive a cash bursary of £1,000 in their first year and will also receive a Care Leaver Bursary of £1,000 in both their second and third year. This can help with the cost of graduation and travel, as well as living costs.

We seek to offer one year’s free accommodation for Care Leavers in our new halls of residence wherever possible.

We will also work with you to find a guarantor to support with moving into privately rented accommodation.

Our ‘Art School 101’ programme available to all first year BA students includes support with budgeting. To help with budgeting over the year, bursaries are also paid to students in 3 instalments: 25% is payable in the Autumn Term, 25% in the Spring term and 50% in the Summer Term to help you manage your finances.

We pro-actively encourage Care Leavers to apply for our Graduates in Residence scheme and our Academic Mentoring Team will offer you support with the application process.

We offer one-to-one careers advice after graduation through Launchgrad, our graduate support programme, so that we can continue to support you once you have graduated.

Who is eligible for Care Leaver support?

We define ‘Care Leaver’ as someone who has been in care for at least 13 weeks since the age of 14 and fulfils any of the following criteria:   

  • Are still being looked after.
  • Have been looked after sometime after their 16th birthday and who have now left care  under the age of 25.
  • Are in the care of the local authority.
  • Have been in the care of a local authority within 3 years prior to commencing their course.
  • Have left the care system, but are still receiving support from their local authority, or an organisation such as Barnardos .

If you fulfil these criteria and can provide proof (usually in the form of a letter from your local authority), then you are eligible for Care Leavers Support at HCA. 

If you are applying by UCAS, we encourage you to tell us you are a Care Leaver on your UCAS form.

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Wellbeing

At HCA we believe your wellbeing should always come first, and we want to support you to reach your full creative potential, while enjoying all aspects of campus life.

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