Chrisann Jarrett has always loved a good debate, but it was the parliamentary expenses scandal in 2009 that sowed the seeds for a career in law and a path towards LSE.
“I was only 15 at the time but I remember the Guardian calling the House of Commons the ‘House of Ill Repute’. It was the first time I realised just how important the law was and the need to understand and know my rights as a citizen*,” she adds.
Ironically, it was those rights that were challenged just three years later when the Hackney schoolgirl tried to fulfil a dream while completing her A-levels.
“My Philosophy and Ethics teacher went to LSE and she encouraged me to apply here, telling me what a fantastic university it was. I remember picking up the LSE events leaflet and reading about all the amazing speakers who deliver public lectures at LSE. I thought ‘this is the place I want to be’.”
The dream stalled at the application process, however. While filling out a form for student finance, the Jamaican-born schoolgirl who had been educated in London for the past decade found out – to her dismay – that her immigration status denied her access to loans.
Chrisann’s Discretionary Leave to Remain (DLR) status means she can work and study here but she is classed as an international student, despite living in the UK for more than 10 years. Consequently, she faced £15,000 annual tuition fees, forcing her to defer her LSE entry.
The impact was devastating. She had to stand by as all her peers went off to university, feeling disengaged, angry and isolated by her situation and fearing her dream of studying law would never materialise.
DLR status permits a non-UK national to stay in the country on a temporary basis, renewable every two and a half years depending on the individual’s circumstances. Changes to immigration laws earlier this year meant that Chrisann would have to wait 10 years before applying for permanent settlement that would qualify her as a domestic student, giving her access to lower fees.
Fortunately, LSE stepped in and offered Chrisann a full scholarship, funding all her tuition and living expenses for three years from September 2014.
“LSE has been my lifeline,” she says. “Without this scholarship I would have been forced to defer for 10 years before I could take up my place at university.”
While her own situation has been happily resolved, Chrisann is conscious that hundreds of other students with a DLR status effectively remain locked out of higher education in this country due to anomalies in the law.
The experience has led to Chrisann setting up the Let us Learn| project, a campaign aimed at raising awareness of other migrant teenagers facing the same issues.
The short-term goal is to build a profile via newspaper articles and blogs, alerting the wider community to the barriers that non-UK nationals face and calling for changes to the law. In the long term, Chrisann and her supporters want to negotiate with individual universities on fee reductions for students with a DLR status.
“Growing up, we are told that education breaks downs barriers and opens all the doors in life. So we work hard and are driven to succeed, only to have the educational door shut in our face when it comes to a legal ruling about our immigration status. That needs to change,” she says.
For more information about the Let us Learn Project, go to: http://www.justforkidslaw.org/let-us-learn|
For information about LSE Scholarships, click here|.
*Chrisann has been shortlisted for the Liberty Human Rights Award 2014| in recognition of her work to support teenage immigrants overcome barriers to higher education. The winner will be announced at a ceremony at the Southbank Centre London on 1 December.
28 October 2014