"There is more support available than there was four or five years ago, but there is a huge variation between local authorities," says Rich. "Not just in the amount of support given but also in the culture within the authority - some really pride themselves in getting as many care leavers into university as possible."
Rich says that local authorities need to exercise more flexibility around age limits on when care leavers can apply for financial help, since many will be coming to university late having had a chaotic experience of education.
The best councils provide not only financial and practical help but also emotional support, says Rich. "It is the job of foster carers and social carers to be ambitious for a young person."
Here we speak to five care-leavers who have defied the odds and gained university places, to find out what they believe needs to be done to help looked-after young people.
To mark National Care Leavers Week, CYP Now has developed a website, www.lifeaftercare.tv. It will feature different care leavers' experiences all of next week from Monday 26 October
- Clare Fearns, 26, Tyne and Wear
"It's been a battle and felt like climbing Mount Everest at times," says Clare, who is currently studying for a masters in social work and who one day wants to become a child psychotherapist. "But I'm so glad I did not give up."
In and out of care since she was a baby, Clare was desperately unhappy at school and left with just three GCSEs.
Constant placement moves throughout her childhood left her with low self-esteem but she says a social worker was the catalyst that helped her succeed. "She was very understanding, caring, empathetic and good at listening," she recalls.
After retaking English and science at college she went on to do AS levels, followed by an NVQ in Racehorse Care and Management and A2 qualifications before starting a degree in geography and geology at Manchester University. Having decided it wasn't for her, she left and worked for a year before completing a degree in sociology at the University of York, graduating with a 2:1.
"If I can get there, considering all those twists and turns, anyone can," she says.
But Clare says councils could do much more to help care leavers. They should help identify support services such as GPs and places of worship in the university town, making sure young people have enough money to buy things like toasters and kettles and providing emotional support.
"The biggest barrier has been the self-doubt and insecurity and lack of emotional support, a comforting word and hug would have gone a long way," she says.
- Sonia Majid, 18, Ealing
Sonia has been in care since she turned 15 and has just started a business degree at Middlesex University after achieving three distinctions in a BTEC national diploma in business.
She says she made it there thanks to support from her foster carer, who encouraged her to apply to university; her social worker, who is busy chasing her student loan; and Ealing Council's Horizon Centre.
This award-winning centre for looked-after children and care leavers houses everything from education facilities and youth work-based support to music equipment and a kitchen. Young people can learn to play guitar or to cook, attend music and poetry evenings or simply hang out with friends or meet social workers. It's part of the reason why more than 18 per cent of care leavers in the borough took up places at university this year.
Continuity of support from a place like this has been vital while Sonia has been applying for and starting university. "I know people there and I feel comfortable," she says. "The staff that work there are great and helped me apply for a student loan - I wouldn't have known how."
The support offered by the centre continues when young people go on to university, including financial support and a dedicated support teacher who checks on young people's progress while they are studying.
During university holidays, Sonia expects that she will keep going to the centre, particularly as she is training to become a mentor for other young people in care.
- Franck Touko, 19, Hackney
While his classmates may have their eye on City jobs, Franck's dream is to return to his country of origin, Cameroon.
"Economics is one of my favourite subjects and I enjoy learning about how the market works," he explains. "My main goal is to go back to Cameroon and to apply the European model to that country, to try and stabilise the economy there."
Franck originally intended to go to university in Kent last year but was worried that moving there could mean he would lose his flat when he completed his degree. Forced to reapply to a London university, this term he began a degree in business and economics.
Staff at Hackney Council have, he says, been "more than helpful" in supporting his plans to go to university, from practical support in applying for a student loan and arranging accommodation to more personal support such as checking his university application and simply phoning him up to see how he is settling in to university life.
As well as having a social worker, looked-after children in Hackney work with an education officer who offers specialist advice about courses and financial support, helping an impressive 25 per cent of care leavers in the borough go to university this year.
However, Franck would like to receive more assistance in finding a job. "I have been given a £3,000 grant but I want to help myself, so I've been looking for a job," he says. "But I've been looking for a long time and I don't know if I'm doing something wrong so I would be grateful to get help with that."
- Zachari Duncalf, 27, Strathclyde
For eight years Zachari lived in children's homes in Lancashire feeling like an outcast and sought retreat in books and libraries. "It's hard to come home and get help with school work," she says. "One home had 24 beds of children running round and setting fire to things, it definitely was not conducive to sitting down and doing your homework."
Despite missing three years of secondary school because of emotional problems, she managed to get 11 GCSEs, but at 17 suffered a breakdown and was sectioned on an adult psychiatric ward. She considers herself lucky that she got out after 18 months.
"I had a moment of feeling that my life has got to be worth more than this. I left hospital on the Sunday, got a council house on the Wednesday, went to college on Thursday and got myself a job on the Friday," she recalls.
She did her A-levels at college while working two 12-hour weekend shifts and three nights a week in a call centre. "I did not want to go back onto the mental health ward and I had to prove that I could succeed," she says.
Zachari says her social workers would always talk about her long-term plans for university and she always felt like she had someone rooting for her, including her leaving care worker who provided vital support to help her get to Hull University, where she studied sociology and social anthropology.
Now completing a PhD at the University of Strathclyde, she plans to make a career in academia. "I always knew education would be my saving grace," she says.
- Debora Tesfu, 23, Islington
When Debora was 12 her parents took the decision that she should leave war-torn Eritrea and go to England for what they hoped would be a better life.
Arriving as an unaccompanied minor she lived with a foster family until she was 18, a family that played a vital role in helping her get to university. This summer she graduated with a 2:2 in Sociology from Westminster.
"My foster family were very big on university - it wasn't a choice, it was just something you did - that got embedded into me," she says. "That's the first thing that helped me get to university."
Debora thinks councils too should see university as the norm for care leavers, and that peer mentoring could help young people see that "just because you have been in care doesn't mean you can't aspire to do things".
Financially, though, Debora says it has been hard. She received a grant of £3,000 a year from the council to help with living costs but had to get a job as well to make ends meet.
"I already had tuition fees to pay and I didn't want a big debt so I didn't want to take out a maintenance loan," she says.
She worked as much as 22 hours a week in retail and then for Islington Council on its career start scheme, which finds paid or voluntary work for looked-after children, and is now hoping to secure a permanent position with the council.
Although she is still in contact with her parents, she hasn't seen them for more than 10 years.
"My parents chose for me to come here to have a better future. I knew they cared for me and they did this because they have a lot of love for me."
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