We’re super excited to be launching our first ever Carer’s Union- you can find more info about them on this page. Our support for student carers is growing year on year, so please reach out to us and let us know what we can do for you!
Student carers are any students with caring responsibilities, which could mean providing unpaid care for a child, family member or friend while studying. We recognise that such responsibilities can cause unique challenges to your student experience at LSE. As such, there’s a variety of support avenues available to help with finances, wellbeing, mental health and more, which are outlined below.
You can find out about the support LSE offers student carers here. If you have childcare costs, accommodation needs, or want to find out more about external support services, we really recommend checking it out!
There is support available specifically for students with parental responsibilities while studying, such as childcare support, funds and accommodation adjustments.
Childcare
Students can receive a 25% discount for nursery costs covered by the LSE through their Nursery Partnerships. Students can also receive emergency childcare at short notice from Turtles Nursery (rated outstanding by Ofsted) by contacting them directly.
Accommodation
Family accommodation is available for full-time degree or postgraduate students living with one or two children during their studies through the University of London and Zebra Housing (only accepts overseas students).
You can find more information and book on the specific websites below:
University of London International Hall
Zebra Housing
As family accommodation is limited and subject to availability, you can also receive support from LSE in finding alternative accommodation here.
Financial Support
LSESU offers a childcare fund to support students with childcare costs who have fallen into short-term, unforeseen hardship.
The UCAS page on guidance for students with parental responsibilities highlights several financial support schemes for home students, including
Tuition Fee and Maintenance Loans
Childcare Grant
Parents’ Learning allowance
NHS Learning Support Fund
Oher Benefits: Universal credit, Child tax Credit, Council Tax reduction
Find the full page here
Financial support from the LSE and LSESU is also available, more details can be found below in the support for all student carers section.
To receive tailored advice on specific issues all students can reach out to the LSESU advice service. It provides free advice and support with any issues students might face, including challenges related to care responsibilities.
Students with any kind of caring responsibilities can also access the resources below for support.
LSE’s Financial support office offers regular drop-in sessions that are a good place to start exploring your financial support options as a student carer. You can find out more and book a session here
LSE Discretionary Bursary: Is available to home students with an exceptional financial need, such as caring responsibilities. They can be offered in addition to the standard LSE Undergraduate bursary or for students whose income falls outside of the sliding scales. Students who are already receiving the maximum bursary amount are unable to also receive the discretionary bursary.
LSESU Hardship fund: Provides emergency support for students who have fallen into short-term, unforeseen financial difficulties, typically the maximum amount offered is 2,000 pounds.
LSE Access fund and Student Support Fund:
The Access Fund is available for students with home fee status that have caring responsibilities, for support with general living costs.
The Student Support Fund can help students who initially had enough funds for their studies but fell into unexpected financial difficulty prior to starting their programme. The maximum amount of funding offered per student is 4,000 pounds
Academic and Wellbeing Support
LSE’s Student Wellbeing Service is a hub for wellbeing services, events and general support for managing student life. The resources they offer such as counselling and mental health workshops can be especially useful to student carers.
The university provides tailored support for student carers, specifically in terms of academic guidance and adjustments as well as wellbeing and mental health services. Support that is available within students’ academic departments, across the university and externally is signposted and explained here.
Care work is something that can, and likely will, impact all of our lives. Many students are involved in care work in a manner that may impact their studies without recognising themselves as student carers, such as those who are not the primary carer. We are a group of student carers who believe that insufficient attention is given to the wellbeing of student carers across the LSE campus.
The Carers' Union is a student-led campaign calling on LSE to broaden the definition of “care” across its policies, recognising the whole diversity of forms and natures that care can take means. We also want to build a community of student carers at LSE by organising regular social and support activities.
Firstly, we want to understand the experience of students with caring responsibilities across LSE. We are calling on students who identify themselves as having "experiences with care" or "care-related activities” (regardless of LSE’s formal definition of “care” and “care-related activities”) to fill in this form, which aims to help us to boost the reach and membership of our campaign, thereby making our voice on campus louder!
Fill in short form here.
Site design by Elliot Parker.