Event Report: Commuter Students: How can we better support their journey through higher education?
On the 3rd November, Linking London's CPD Spotlight webinar, 'Commuter Students: Supporting, Advising and Improving Retention' took place.
With 31% of UK 18-year-old applicants now intending to live at home while studying, understanding the experiences and challenges faced by commuter students has never been more important.
Our recent Linking London CPD Spotlight webinar, 'Commuter Students: Supporting, Advising and Improving Retention', brought together colleagues from across FE and HE to explore how we can better support commuter students, from making informed decisions about university to developing a sense of belonging and successfully completing their studies.
Discussions focused on the barriers students face, including travel costs, timetabling, financial pressures and competing responsibilities, as well as how colleges and universities can work together to ensure commuting doesn't become a barrier to participation and success.
We're also delighted to launch our new Linking London Uni Connect briefing note: 'Towards Greater Understanding and Support for Commuter Students'.
The resource brings together recent research and evidence, with a particular focus on London's unique context, where high accommodation costs, complex travel arrangements and diverse student circumstances can shape the university experience.
It explores the challenges of defining commuter students, the intersection with other underrepresented groups, and examples of good practice from universities, including practical approaches to improving accessibility, flexibility and student belonging.
One particularly striking finding is that 56.3% of the most disadvantaged London applicants intend to live at home, compared with just 17.7% of those from the most advantaged backgrounds.
We hope this resource will support colleagues working in outreach, careers, student support, widening participation and student experience to reflect on current practice and identify opportunities to better support this growing student group.
Read our new briefing note here: Commuter briefing note Oct 26 (1).pdf
A big thank you to everyone who contributed to our CPD session and joined the discussion!