Care Experienced Scholarship

Being care experienced

We know that young people with experience of care are significantly less likely to continue into higher education than their peers. Being in care can impact your school progress and the opportunity to attend university at the usual time.

At the OU, we’re here to help put higher education back within your grasp with our open-access courses and flexible study arrangements. OU study means you do not have to move away and can study from the comfort of your own home.

What is the Care Experienced Scholarship?

The Open University’s Care Experienced Scholarship, in conjunction with The John Lewis Partnership launched for the first time in the 2023/2024 academic year, offering four undergraduate scholarships. In the 2024/25 academic year, we’re offering six further undergraduate scholarships to care-experienced young people aged 25 and under.

A scholarship covers OU undergraduate credit-bearing qualifications, paying for the full tuition cost of your qualification, up to 120 credits each seasonal academic year and 360 credits in total.

To be eligible, you’ll need to meet all the following criteria:

• be 25 years of age or under on 1 September 2024
• be starting OU study for the first time in the 2024/25 academic year
• be ordinarily resident in the UK and eligible for a UK fee
• hold no existing higher education qualification(s)
• be able to demonstrate proof of your experience of being in care
• have a gross personal income of not more than £25,000 per year or receive a qualifying benefit
• be studying a module as part of an undergraduate qualification in the academic year 2024/25 (1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025)
• be studying a minimum of 30 credits a year.

The full eligibility criteria are available in the terms and conditions.

What supporting evidence do I need?

You will need to provide evidence of your care experience. This could be a letter from your Local Authority confirming your care leaver status, or a letter from a GP, social worker, care experienced support service or other professional person from the local authority in which you were looked after. You’ll also need to provide evidence of your personal income or qualifying benefit.