The Student Room Group

Running away to university

So im writing to ask for help and advice on my situation, i have been living with my family but in the past 2 years things have gotten really bad since they discovered i was queer and that went against their traditional religious views, so im not allowed to do anything they dont physically see, i cant have friends or go out with them, i cant go out on my own even, and theres arguments every other week, for the past 2 years, right now im pretending im straight and have been doing so for the past year and a half to get the abuse to stop, but i dont want to do this for the rest of my life, moving out is non negotiable, as in my household moving out will only happen when im married, which obviously wont happen unless im forced into one. My only way of moving out (that i can think of) is to move to university without them knowing, the university i have in mind is UCL, and they have an estranged student fund, however i dont think that applies to me since im still living with my parents, im in the first year of a levels, and i just want advice on how to leave properly without them knowing, any advice is welcome.
Hi,
I'm so sorry for how awful this situation must be.
The best advice I can give is to contact the finance department of any university that you may be interested in to see if you would qualify for any bursaries.
Here is also a link to a few organisations that you may be able to contact if you feel that you need to:
https://galop.org.uk/
https://lgbt.foundation/help/helpline-email-support/
https://switchboard.lgbt/
Wishing you the best of luck with everything,
Meg 🙂
MA Popular Music Student.
Reply 2
Original post by ageli
So im writing to ask for help and advice on my situation, i have been living with my family but in the past 2 years things have gotten really bad since they discovered i was queer and that went against their traditional religious views, so im not allowed to do anything they dont physically see, i cant have friends or go out with them, i cant go out on my own even, and theres arguments every other week, for the past 2 years, right now im pretending im straight and have been doing so for the past year and a half to get the abuse to stop, but i dont want to do this for the rest of my life, moving out is non negotiable, as in my household moving out will only happen when im married, which obviously wont happen unless im forced into one. My only way of moving out (that i can think of) is to move to university without them knowing, the university i have in mind is UCL, and they have an estranged student fund, however i dont think that applies to me since im still living with my parents, im in the first year of a levels, and i just want advice on how to leave properly without them knowing, any advice is welcome.

I'm so sorry you find yourself in this situation.

You don't need your parents permission to apply to or go to university and they need have no role in your decision if you don't want them to. The main problem will be finance. Unless your parents are willing to submit their financial information, you will only get the minimum maintenance loan which is no where near enough to live on. Estranged students do not have parental income taken into account, but that can be difficult to prove. Manchester Uni has a useful document on this:

https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=43944

It might be worth making a post on the student finance section of the student room so that SFE can give you advice.

It would be worth considering non-London universities unless UCL is the only place that meets your requirements as money is likely to be very tight without parental support. Living in the big northern cities is a lot cheaper than London - think Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, Newcastle, Liverpool etc., and all have thriving LGBTQ communities as do the universities.

Finally, do you have a teacher/lecturer that you would be happy to confide in? This is an awful lot for you to go through on your own.

Wishing you the very best
Reply 3
Original post by marple
I'm so sorry you find yourself in this situation.
You don't need your parents permission to apply to or go to university and they need have no role in your decision if you don't want them to. The main problem will be finance. Unless your parents are willing to submit their financial information, you will only get the minimum maintenance loan which is no where near enough to live on. Estranged students do not have parental income taken into account, but that can be difficult to prove. Manchester Uni has a useful document on this:
https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=43944
It might be worth making a post on the student finance section of the student room so that SFE can give you advice.
It would be worth considering non-London universities unless UCL is the only place that meets your requirements as money is likely to be very tight without parental support. Living in the big northern cities is a lot cheaper than London - think Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, Newcastle, Liverpool etc., and all have thriving LGBTQ communities as do the universities.
Finally, do you have a teacher/lecturer that you would be happy to confide in? This is an awful lot for you to go through on your own.
Wishing you the very best

hello, thank you so mcuh for your reply, i will read the document you have provided,
the main reason i am applying to ucl is because im going to pursue modelling while at university to earn an income, as ive been accepted to modelling agencies in the past (i was unable to followthrough because of my parents), and london is the main place for that sort of employment, im unsure about any other cities.

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