The Stand Alone Pledge: helping estranged students in higher education
Starting university is an adventure, but it can also be a bit daunting for many new students. Will I fit in? Will I make new friends quickly? Will I enjoy my course? What if I can’t cope financially or academically? These are the kind of questions going through new students’ minds.
Luckily, 90% of students have the back-up of a close family when going to university. Parents help their children settle in to the new environment and make sense of the new challenges ahead, and, if possible, help financially, and just as importantly, emotionally. Stand Alone’s most recent research, ‘Family Matters’, identified the importance of emotional support from their family to students throughout their time in higher education, especially during stressful times.
But there are students who are going to university independently, without the support of their family, or a corporate parent. Either because they have chosen higher education against the will of their parents...