UCW offers student accommodation with our local property partner, and our HEART team manages the application and allocation processes.

If you are a priority student and you require it, we will offer you year-round accommodation.

HEART also organise house meetings to make sure that everyone in our student accommodation enjoys a comfortable and secure living environment.

As part of the accommodation contract, students will be asked to provide details of a guarantor who agrees to pay your rent on your behalf if you don’t or aren’t able to. If you are a priority student and are not able to provide a guarantor, please contact HEART or any of the named contacts above who will be able to assist you.

Please head on over to our Accommodation pages to download our guide and find out more.

If you are looking to live further afield, you may be able to find university accommodation in Bristol. Unite is able to offer scholarships for care leavers and estranged students for free accommodation in their properties. Please click here for more information.

Applying for student finance can be a little confusing, but our Student Finance Officer April (contact details above) is able to advise priority students on the process, and can also provide information in areas including budgeting, benefits and additional income.

She has also produced a guide downloadable from our Finance page for all students to help them get their finances in place.

Student Finance England, the body responsible for lending students money, can identify a student as estranged. If this applies to you, it means you will receive independent status and only your income will be taken into consideration when they are determining how much money to lend you. For students who are not classified as having independent status, Student Finance England would also want to know about their parental or family income. They will ask to see evidence from ‘a trusted third party who know the details of your estrangement’ when you complete the application, and although they typically request evidence that a student has been estranged for at least twelve months, they will consider all cases. The dedicated Student Finance England team for this can be contacted through their main switchboard on 0300 100 0607.

Priority students may be eligible for a bursary (which does not have to be paid back) from UCW or your partner university, and if you’re a care leaver you may be eligible for a higher education bursary of up to £2,000 from your local authority to help with your transition to uni.

UCW and our partner universities are also able to offer emergency financial support to priority students through short-term loans and the UCW Priority Student Fund.

As well as the guidance and support we are able to provide for priority students at UCW, there is also lots of support available from other organisations.

The charity Stand Alone is there for people who are estranged from their parents. They offer support groups and therapeutic workshops and are based in Bristol.

Buttle UK and Propel are organisations for care leavers. Both recognise the support UCW provides for care leavers.

The Carer’s Trust can provide support for young carers.

UCAS, the organisation that manages the UK higher education application process, also has dedicated pages for estranged students, care leavers and young carers.