Young adult carers more likely to apply to degree courses with caring component

By Eleanor Busby, Reporter1st August 2024Education & TrainingCarers, Education / Training, Learning and Development, Qualifications, Students

Young adult carers are more likely than their peers to choose university and college courses which have a caring component, a report has found.

Young adult carers are 59% more likely to apply to health and social care courses, and 57% more likely to apply to nursing and midwifery courses, than applicants without caring responsibilities, Ucas has said.

Pharmacology, toxicology and pharmacy, medicine and dentistry and medical sciences are also top subjects for these students compared to their peers.

The choices of young adult carers are “frequently influenced by their caring status”, according to the report from the admissions body.

An analysis – of undergraduate applications from young adult carers in the UK last year – suggests they are 29% more likely than their peers to study at an institution within a 30 minutes’ drive from home, and 33% more likely to choose to live at home while they study.

It also found that more than two in five (42%) of young adult carers are placed at institutions with lower entry requirements, in comparison to the 35% of their peers without caring responsibilities.

The report – which is backed by the Carers Trust charity – calls on universities and colleges to consider “contextual admissions” when considering applications from the cohort of young adult carers.

It adds that schools can help create a culture of “positive disclosure” so young adults make their caring responsibilities known which enables them to gain more support when entering higher education.

Last year, there were 18,915 people aged under 25 with caring responsibilities from the UK who applied to university or college – accounting for 3.9% of all Ucas applicants, according to the report.

A survey, of 1,155 of the young adult carers from across the UK that made a Ucas application, found that 72% said they never or rarely spoke to teaching staff about their caring responsibilities.

Nearly two in three (63%) of young adult carers who were surveyed said they did not obtain support tailored to their circumstances for applying to higher education.

The report found that financial considerations and flexibility in attendance at university are key factors in the decision-making of young adult carers.

Overall, 70% of young adult carers have concerns about finances and 63% said that they took being able to balance their studies with part-time work into account when researching their options, the poll found.

The report calls on universities and colleges to consider offering packages of financial support for young adult carers, including bursaries and grants, to ensure the successful completion of higher education.

Jo Saxton, Ucas’s chief executive, said: “I know from my time working in schools just how significant the impact of having caring responsibilities can be for a young person and now, for the first time, this research reveals how these responsibilities also shape the choices young carers make about their future careers.

“It is crucial that we identify and support these young people to ensure they think broadly and have equal opportunities to succeed in education and beyond.”

She added: “This UK-wide report is the first of its kind and represents an important milestone in understanding the experiences of young adult carers.

“I’m encouraged to see nearly 19,000 self-declared young adult carers applying through Ucas last year and I hope this brand-new insight from Ucas will be instrumental in improving the identification and awareness of support for young adult carers exploring higher education.”

Kirsty McHugh (pictured), chief executive at Carers Trust, said: “A lack of identification and understanding of their caring role in schools and colleges is having huge implications for the type of help young carers get in applying for the next stage of their education.

“There is also clearly work to do in the higher education sector to ensure carers have the best possible experience once they arrive.”

Nicole McCartney, director of education at Creative Education Trust – who cared for her parents as a child, said: “Whether in primary schools, secondary schools, further education or higher education, we as educators too often overlook what I believe is a hugely untapped store of skill and ambition when we don’t cater for our young carers.

“These are generally young people who, through often very difficult circumstances, come to us with advanced leadership, organisational and interpersonal skills.

“Identifying and nurturing these young people is critical to their success and to the quality of the caring professions, like teaching, they so often choose.”