Estranged Students Solidarity Week 2023
This week (Monday 27 November to Friday 1 December) is Estranged Students Solidarity Week and Oxford Brookes and Brookes Union are raising awareness about family estrangement and the many barriers to success that estranged students face at university.
Who are estranged students?
Estranged students are young students without the support of a family network. Young people in this position often have no contact at all with their parents and may have removed themselves from a dysfunctional situation.
Students who are estranged from their families can experience disadvantages within higher education and often struggle to access financial, health and wellbeing support.
What support is available for estranged students?
Oxford Brookes is proud to have signed the Stand Alone Pledge to demonstrate our commitment to support estranged students.
As part of this commitment, the University offers:
- a £2,000-a-year bursary to those students who meet the estranged student criteria
- guaranteed accommodation in our halls of residence for 52 weeks (as long as they have selected Oxford Brookes as a firm choice on their UCAS form)
- a dedicated member of support staff.
Find out about support available to estranged students at Oxford Brookes.
How can you support estranged students?
There are lots of ways you can be a supportive ally to estranged students, including:
- normalising talking to your peers about estrangement
- organising events over the holidays so everyone can feel included and supported during these times
- being mindful of your everyday language - for example, instead of saying ‘what are you doing for Christmas?’, you can ask ‘what are you looking forward to over the next few weeks?’
For more information, Stand Alone has some great advice for how you can support estranged students.