At King’s College London, we recognise that being estranged can have a significant impact on educational opportunities and outcomes. We therefore provide pre-entry and on-course support to students who have lost contact with and are no longer supported by their families. This support includes additional financial support and advice on accommodation, finances, and academic matters.

Please note the information on this webpage is for pre-entrants before starting university. If you're a current King's student or would like to learn more about the support available once you've enrolled at King's, please visit our support offered to current estranged students at King's webpage.

Our definition of an estranged student is someone aged 24 or under, who no longer has the support of their parents/caregivers due to an irreconcilable breakdown of their relationship. This might mean your biological or, if you have been adopted, your adoptive parents – whoever has been responsible for supporting you in the past.

This involves having no verbal or written contact, usually for a minimum of 12 months. This definition also includes students who may have been disowned, or if both parents are deceased.

Have you been in local authority care? You may be considered care experienced or a care leaver rather than estranged. Visit our pre-entry care experienced webpage for more information.

Disclosing estrangement can provide context when making admissions decisions but also ensures you are given the right financial, academic, and personal support. We understand that some students see university as a fresh start and may be reluctant to let the university know, but we would like to reassure you that this information will never be used against you and we cannot help if we do not know.

On your UCAS Application

To disclose your estranged status, you should do the following if relevant:

• Tick the box on your UCAS application to say you are estranged from your parents/caregivers.
• Say you are estranged from your family/caregivers on your personal statement.
• Ensure your teacher reference (if applicable) gives additional information and provides context.
• If you have mitigating circumstances, please visit the admissions mitigating circumstances guidance webpage, and complete the relevant form. There are more details on applying to university as an estranged student on the UCAS webpages.

King’s verification: Eligibility

To be verified as an estranged student upon your application to King’s, you must be:

• 24 or under at the start date of your undergraduate programme
• Assessed as a home fee payer i.e., be eligible for a loan from Student Finance

King’s verification: Evidence needed

You will also be required to submit evidence to show that you meet this status. The below outlines what you will need to complete this process.

• A letter or email from your teacher/tutor or designated safeguarding lead at school or college can confirm you are estranged. We would strongly advise having this evidence ready when you come to submit your application.

Student Finance England will release a confirmation of estrangement form for the academic year you are applying to. This form is often updated later in the application cycle, so do keep an eye out for its release. After completing the assessment and you receive the letter as detailed below, please upload this to your King’s application.

• A letter or email from the independent team at student finance confirming that you have been assessed and verified as an independent student because you are irreconcilably estranged from your parents. This may be referred to as a ‘letter of entitlement.’ Here is an example of what the letter should look like: Student Finance England estrangement confirmation letter (pdf)

Please note: We do not accept the application form which you and your chosen 3rd party complete as evidence of your estrangement. This is the application form Student Finance will use to complete their assessment. We only accept the outcome of your estrangement status from the independent team at student finance.

It is possible to claim independent status with Student Finance due to estrangement from parents, in case you have proof of the following:

• No written or verbal contact with biological parents in past 12 months before start of academic year
• The situation is irreconcilable

In this case, your personal household income will be taken into consideration for the means-tested elements, instead of your parents’ income.

To do this you will need to submit evidence to support the claim, from an independent person with good standing in the community. This person should normally have known about your situation for a substantial amount of time and can verify that you don’t have contact with your biological or adoptive parents (for example a letter from a social worker, advice worker, tutor, teacher). Please note that to get the available financial support, you need to agree to get means-tested. 

Additional admissions consideration for estranged applicants

If you are estranged and applying to study at King’s, we strongly advise you to disclose this directly to us. This will allow admissions staff to take your circumstances into consideration and will not have a negative impact on your application.

We use this data to holistically assess an applicant’s future potential to succeed and to differentiate between similar highly qualified candidates.

As an estranged student, you will receive additional consideration. Examples of the ways in which additional consideration is given are described below:

• Students whose predicted grades are marginally lower than that required for the course may be given an offer.
• Students whose application is considered as being close to the standard required to gain an interview may be offered an interview.
• Students whose admissions test score is considered as being close to the required standard might be given an offer or interview.
• Students who narrowly fail to meet their conditional offer will be given additional consideration as to whether their place should be confirmed.

Application support

King's College London has a designated member of staff (pre-entry), who can assist estranged students with all aspects of the application process: you can talk about course choices, receive feedback on a draft personal statement, tips on interviews as well as guidance on King's other support services e.g., student funding or the disability services.

For more information please contact priority-groups@kcl.ac.uk.

King’s College London recognises the challenges faced by estranged students. We offer extensive support before you start at university.

Pre-university projects & events

King’s College London Widening Participation department prioritises estranged learners on long-term pre-university programmes. To learn more about long-term programmes run by King's Widening Participation department, visit our projects for prospective students webpages.

King's also offers in-person guided campus tours as well as online campus tours, where you can find out more about King's, our world-class research, outstanding facilities and more about our student experience. In addition to this King's offers open days both online and in-person, giving students the opportunity to find out more about our courses and speak to current students and staff. Discover more about our upcoming campus tours and open days on our undergraduate events webpage.

If you would like to find out more about the support available once you’ve enrolled at King’s, or you want information on how to get verified once you've joined, please visit our support offered to current estranged students at King's webpage.