Learning objectives

1. To understand the experience of transition to higher education for students with mental health difficulties as one that can occur at any life stage and that can represent a gift as well as a challenge.

2. To critically analyse the opportunities and limitations of a specialised Disability Access Route to Education (DARE) for students with mental health difficulties and gain an awareness of the opportunities and limitations of this approach to including and supporting students with mental health difficulties.

Introduction

Starting university is a major milestone for any student. It is a time of change and a time of opportunity. While change is an inevitable, indeed beneficial, aspect of life it can also be a challenging time – particularly for those who struggle with their mental health. In this chapter the transition to higher education is explored through scholarly literature and the voices and experiences of students with lived experience of mental health difficulties. It begins by examining what is meant by transition. While often associated with young adults, transition to higher education for those who have experienced distress can occur at any life stage. This offers a helpful reminder that transitions can occur across the lifespan and the transition to higher education is not the sole domain of the transition to adulthood. Students who shared their experiences of transition to university do so at a variety of life stages and ages. These stories comprise the larger part of this chapter, with particular focus afforded to the experience of transition and the Disability Access Route to Education (DARE) by which many students have entered university.

What is a transition?

Transitions are periods in life of significant change. They are hard to avoid and most of us will have gone through a number of significant changes by the time we reach adulthood. It might be surprising, therefore, to learn that there is no agreed definition of a transition (Ecclestone et al., 2010). It has been variously described as a process and as a point in time. For example, Colley (2007, p. 428) simply describes transition as “a process of change over time” while Quinn (2009, p. 122) considers it as “a fixed turning point which takes place at a preordained time and in a certain place”. Whether considered in terms of process or place, transitions are associated with changes or shifts in position, status, place, or role. Theories of human development recognise the transitions experienced by young people in their late adolescence or early 20s are more complex and multi-faceted than those experienced at other stages across the lifespan (Hutchison, 2008). Indeed, it has been suggested that the transition to higher education is “one of the most significant transitions in a student’s life” (Timmis, Pexton, and Cavallerio, 2022, p. 2504). Many students leave their home communities for the first time to study in a new town or city. They leave behind social networks which include friends, families, and a broad lattice of familiar acquaintances. The transition to higher education is more than a change of place, however. For many it is associated with a transition to economic independence or a change in role or identity. While often written about in terms of challenge or difficulty, the transition to higher education, and higher education itself, equally offers what Oakeshott described as “the gift of an interval” (Oakeshott, 1989, p. 10). In this sense the university is more than an ordeal to encounter and survive, but, as Mahon puts it, “a time and place of refuge” where students can explore and share different roles, ideas, identities, and experiences “without fear of repercussions from the outside world” (Mahon, 2021, p. 2).

Transitions themselves are not inherently positive or negative. They can be challenging or enriching and often are both. Those transitions which are seen as positive, such as the transition to university, can equally be difficult and entail some cost. These costs include financial costs, but also the emotional costs associated with mismatched expectations or anticipatory stress. A mismatch in student expectations of what university will be like, and their initial experiences of higher education, has been shown to be associated greater levels of disengagement and attrition (Krause, 2005). Anticipatory stress, including concerns about study and exam pressures and financial concerns, is also associated with transition and change (ReachOut Australia, 2022). After decades of didactic teaching and direction in primary and secondary education, many students can struggle with the self-direction and independence of higher education (Winn, 2002).

What is clear is that the transition to higher education can require support. This is particularly true for students who struggle with their mental health. A study of all undergraduate students in Australia found that students with mental health difficulties were more vulnerable to dropout than their peers (Zając et al., 2024). The authors found that among students receiving treatment for their mental health, 22.2 per cent dropped out in their first year, compared to just 13.9 per cent of students not receiving mental health treatment (Zając et al., 2024). Another Australian study, this time conducted by the Australian Government’s “Productivity Commission”, identified mental health difficulties as particularly disruptive in the transition to higher education (Productivity Commission, 2020). This they attribute to “missed opportunities” (Productivity Commission, 2020, p. 161) at earlier stages of development, including poorer attendance and poorer academic outcomes at second level, which can leave students with mental health difficulties feeling further behind upon entering university.

Most recent statistics on non-progression indicate that 15 per cent of first year undergraduates do not progress to their second year (Higher Education Authority, 2024c). This figure from the 2021/2022 academic year represents a significant increase in student drop out, with this increase attributed to a number of factors including mental health difficulties linked to disengagement, long commutes, and reduced access to student support. Student counselling services report a surge in isolation, loneliness, and disconnection, particularly amongst first year students (O’Brien, 2023), with long waiting lists building up in most university counselling services (O’Brien, 2024). Dropping out of college can result in a financial cost for students. Students who drop out in their first semester have to pay half the annual fees, while students who leave from January onwards have to pay the full fees (Higher Education Authority, 2024b). Further, students who start university, realise they are on the wrong course, and drop out, lose their eligibility for the “Free Fees” scheme and have to pay full tuition for the remainder of their undergraduate education (Higher Education Authority, 2024b). Struggling in the transition to higher education can come at cost – both personal and financial.

The transition to higher education is unique to each individual and to each generation. There is a tendency amongst university leavers to assume that the transition to higher education is similar to those experienced by previous generations. While many of the rituals of transition, from freshers’ weeks to inductions to a packed social calendar, are the same as they were for previous intakes, each cohort faces a unique set of challenges and opportunities. This was most clearly seen during the COVID-19 pandemic when many students did not step onto campus until their second or third year. Other long-term trends, such as a precarious job market and greater availability of a skilled workforce, mean that many students will face short-term or contract-based employment upon graduation (Chesters et al., 2019). Ireland’s housing crisis has meant that many can’t afford to rent or stay near university and many Irish adults are now living at home into their 30s, which impacts not just life transitions but their sense of personal control and independence (Maguire, 2023). This has led many school leavers to report a lack of understanding from parents and schools about the pressures, realities, and difficulties they face (Fava and Baker, 2022). As more and more students transition to higher education with a mental health difficulty, it is important now more than ever to understand this experience.

The experience of transition

The accounts of the 27 students with mental health difficulties who shared their experiences reveal the vulnerability and opportunity of the transition to higher education. For some it was a transition filled with promise and optimism, while for others it was the moment when things “fell apart” (John). Millie, for example, describes the transition as “a stressful time” but says “it was a nice stress … I was looking forward to it”. She feels that after “three years of having a really hard time” with her mental health as a teenager, she feels she is able to “enjoy” and “value” her time in higher education “because I didn’t think I’d actually be here”.

After an 18-year gap, during which he struggled with paranoid schizophrenia,¹ Leon returned to full-time education. Beginning with two years with the National Learning Network, a supported training centre, followed by a one-year university access course, Leon is now in the first year of his degree. He talked about how at each step along his higher education journey he has been supported and encouraged, and described “the attention and care and encouragement and facilities and infrastructure” he has received as he transitions to higher education as “wonderful”. Leon says, “it was great to have that facility where I could go from being a stoner and a waster” to being a full-time student.

Joseph also took a more indirect route to higher education. After a gap of 20 years, he completed a one-year university access course at a local further education college but says that, although the access course prepared him well, he found university “much more stressful”. He says he felt “very isolated and vulnerable” as a mature student in a class with “19 year old kids”, and although he is now well into his second year Joseph says, “I still feel like that”.

J. D. feels that making friends was “very important” in supporting his transition to higher education. He also says that loving his course “makes things easier”. Fiona, too, says that making “an effort to meet people” during the first few weeks of college helped her make the transition: “I think I surprised myself with how well I coped with such a big change”.

However, for some students, the transition to university was more challenging. Alicia describes how she “hit college” and “it all sort of triggered it [her anxiety and depression] again”.

Alicia says the large, crowded lectures “freaked me out” and caused her panic attacks to come “back again quite badly”. It wasn’t long before she “wasn’t going to college”. John says that “as soon as I started college my mental health fell apart”.

John says it was at this point that he decided to go back on medication and says that “within a few days of taking my tablets I felt better” and was able to get “back on track” in terms of his college work.

Ella described how she “dropped off the grid” when she moved away from home to attend college. She left the support system which had been in place since she was a teenager and, following the advice of her psychologist, “didn’t register with the disability service”: “the preventative measures that had been put in place for me at 16 … were just completely undone”. She found herself away from home “with no help, trying to pretend it [her mental health difficulty] didn’t exist”. Ella struggled to meet people she “clicked with”; didn’t enjoy the course she was on; found herself living in a stressful living environment with strangers; and, shortly after she started college, her relationship with her boyfriend “started to fall apart”: “everything got terrible and I ended up just not going to college from January onwards”. Ella dropped out of college at this point and returned the following September to start a course “which I enjoyed”. She says the second transition “was still hard, but it was less hard, it kinda felt like I was on the path to becoming a bit better which was good”.

Robert described how he struggled with the transition to college. He was “brilliant in school, like, top of my year” but when he got to college he realised “I actually had to work”. This increase in difficulty coincided with an increase in freedom as Robert got his first part-time job which financed an active social life: “I was like Yahooo!”: “Then I failed and I realised, oh you are top of the class in school but you are just standard in college”. This failure “was crushing” for Robert and, failing again in second year, he decided to drop out.

Marie described how she “felt a bit lost” when she started college. She says she “banded together” with two girls from her secondary school with whom she had little in common and, during the first few weeks of college, “I was going out a lot, drinking a lot and it just wasn’t me”. It wasn’t long before Marie found herself “worn out [and] exhausted” and decided to seek help from the student counselling service.

While the majority of students transitioned to university directly from secondary school, five of the 27 students made the transition as mature students. Others, like Ella and Robert, struggled the first time they transitioned to university and dropped out. They returned at a later stage and experienced the transition a second time with a greater degree of success. Many of those students who transitioned directly from secondary school did so through the Disability Access Route to Education (DARE) scheme.

Disability Access Route to Education (DARE)

Many of the students featured in this book entered university “through the DARE system” (Sophie). In Ireland, secondary school students sit the Leaving Certificate examinations in their final year. A minimum of six subjects are examined, with English, Mathematics, and Irish being compulsory. Subjects can be taken at one of three levels and points are awarded based on the level of study and the grade awarded in the final exam. For example, the highest grade at higher level (H1) is awarded 100 points while the highest grade at ordinary level (O1) is awarded 56 points (Central Applications Office, 2024). The total number of points awarded across the student’s six chosen subjects determines the number of points with which they can apply to higher education. The Central Applications Office (CAO) processes applications for entry to undergraduate courses in Irish Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) based on the student’s number of points, with the more in-demand courses and universities requiring higher points for entry. The DARE scheme was introduced “as a third level alternative admissions scheme for school-leavers whose disabilities have had a negative impact on their second level education” (Access College, 2024). It offers reduced points places to school leavers who can (a) provide evidence of their disability and (b) demonstrate that their disability has had a negative impact on their secondary schooling (Access College, 2024). The opportunities and limitations of this approach to achieving equality of access to higher education are discussed in more detail in Chapter 2. Eight students spoke about their experience of coming through the DARE scheme, but it is likely that other participants availed of the scheme without it featuring in the stories they chose to share.

Sophie says she got into college “by the skin of my teeth”. DARE represented a lucky break for her, although she does say she “was actually quite disappointed by the system”. She explained her understanding of how the system works as follows:

Sophie felt disappointed because she believed that the DARE scheme meant that the entry points for a course would be reduced, granting equal access to all students with disabilities, but “it’s not necessarily that they lower [the points], it’s a separate points race”. Sophie felt let down upon this realisation and wonders if she would have had a better shot at her first-choice course had she remained in the regular Central Applications Office (CAO) points race.

Millie, in contrast to Sophie, says the DARE scheme “gave me about sixty points, maybe seventy points, so I got 410 [points] and the course was 480 [points] I think, I’m not sure”. For J. D. it mattered a lot that he “got in off my own bat”: “The fact that, even though I got DARE and I would have been in anyway, that I got in by myself”.

Lauren, however, says she “definitely wouldn’t have got into college” on the points she earned in her Leaving Certificate examination and says that “no one expected me to get into college so that was great”. For Claire, coming in through the DARE scheme leaves her feeling that she was “lucky” and with a sense that she “should overcompensate”.

This feeling of slipping in the door, as Claire puts it, is one described by many DARE students. By virtue of entering university through he DARE scheme, students are at increased risk of segregation or stigmatisation (Padden and Tonge, 2018). It can leave many students feeling isolated and excluded, as if imposters on a course with students who scored higher points in their Leaving Certificate. It has also been suggested that a process that focuses primarily on a student’s difficulties and inability to perform on a par with their peers can lead to a lack of confidence amongst DARE students (Padden and Tonge, 2018).

Although Claire says she feels her getting a place in college was down to luck, she feels grateful “because if I didn’t do DARE” she feels she would have ended up doing “a level 7 [further education course] or something, something I didn’t want to do” which would have “really hit my confidence”.

Conclusion

This chapter focused on the experience of transition. While the subject of a considerable body of research on higher education, it is interesting to note that there is no single definition of what a transition is. It can be understood as a period in time, encapsulating the early weeks of a student’s first semester at university with all their “fresher” rituals and rites of passage. Transition can equally be understood as a process – one which each student goes through at their own pace and which recognises the varying degree of resources and preparedness available to each individual. Both conceptualisations of transition are represented in the students’ accounts of their transition to university. Marie described how she “felt a bit lost” during those early weeks at university and how her efforts to adjust and fit in came at great personal cost. For Robert and Ella, transition was something they struggled with the first time and, in both instances, they dropped out before the end of their first year. For these students, transition was a process – one which took more than one attempt. Students who transitioned to university through the DARE scheme described how “lucky” (Claire) they were to get onto their courses in a way that recognised the adversity they had faced at second level. This route, however, left many feeling like they had gotten in “by the skin of my teeth” (Marie) and that they “should overcompensate” and “prove I can do well if I try, and it’s not that I’m just lucky to be where I am and I kind of slipped in the door” (Claire). Students who transition to university through the DARE scheme are encouraged to register with their university disability service. This service, and students’ experience of its supports, forms the focus of the next chapter.