'I get up in the night to cry': The impact of homelessness on higher education students in London, UK. (February 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mulrenan, Patrick; Atkins, Julia; Cox, Simon
• Is Part Of: Critical social policy. Volume 38:Number 1(2018)
• Page Start: 143
• Page End: 154
• Publication Date: 2018-02
• Subjects: Higher education -- homelessness -- students -- widening participation; Welfare economics -- Periodicals; Socialism -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; Great Britain -- Social policy -- 1979- -- Periodicals; 361.94105
• DOI: 10.1177/0261018317724524
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0261-0183

Abstract

While the higher education landscape has changed radically since the late 1980s, a consistent feature of government policy has been to widen participation to students who were disproportionately excluded previously. Post-1992 universities in particular have experienced a substantial change in their student intake, but challenges remain in ensuring the retention and success of these students. This article argues that student homelessness is a significant and an under-researched barrier to students reaching their potential. The problem is explored here, illuminated by a focus group and a series of interviews involving 16 students from one school at a London post-1992 university. The impact of homelessness was far-reaching in terms of their emotional wellbeing and ability to fully participate in university life, including pressure on time and financial resources, inability to fully focus on studies, and limited engagement with fellow students and the wider university experience.