What is a contextual offer?

There are different types of offers you can receive from a university - a conditional offer or an unconditional offer - and you will receive this when a university offers you a place on your chosen course. However, sometimes students may miss out on the grades required to be offered a place, due to personal circumstances impacting their exam results. In these situations, a contextual offer may be given.

What is a contextual offer?

A contextual offer is a type of offer where a university recognises your difficult personal circumstances while seeing potential in your application. These offers are usually given to support you in securing a place at a university place if you've been having a challenging time.

What a contextual offer will look like can vary, but most commonly is a university lowering the course entry requirements. It could also be given in the form of an unconditional offer, offering a guaranteed interview for the course, additional support through your studies or even a place on a foundation course.

Who is eligible for a contextual offer?

• Different universities have different criteria as to who can receive a contextual offer. Examples of eligibility criteria are:
• You are a first-generation higher education student (basically, you're the first in your family to attend university)
• You are a refugee or an asylum seeker
• You are a young carer
• You are entitled to free school meals or discretionary payments
• You attend a school or college with low progression rates
• You come from a low socio-economic group
• You have a disability or learning difficulty of some kind
• You have participated in Access to University or Widening Participation programmes
• You have spent time in care
• You live in a low-participation neighbourhood (POLAR 4 Quintile 1 or 2) and attend a state school.
• Your school or college is eligible for contextual offers (not always necessary)

As we mentioned in the list above, you may receive a contextual offer based on where you live. POLAR is the Participation of Local Areas which categorises neighbourhoods from POLAR1 to POLAR5. Universities will use a postcode checker to determine whether a student is entitled to a contextual offer or not, based on their guidelines.

Universities will be able to tell if you're eligible based on the information you share in your UCAS application. There are questions within the application process where you can share this information, as well as your reference being able to share more information with the university.

Which universities offer contextual offers?

As the criteria for contextual offers vary depending on the university, it's hard to say exactly which universities give contextual offers and which don't. You can likely find this information on their university profile as well as the specific course information. If you're unsure you can always log a request for more information about their contextual offers and they can reach out with more for you!

Receiving a contextual offer

You'll receive your contextual offer alongside your conditional or unconditional offer when your UCAS Hub updates, though it won't necessarily be easily signposted within the UCAS Hub. It's more likely that the university will reach out to you directly to let you know about the status of your offer and what exactly it means for you, while UCAS Hub will just inform you whether it's conditional or unconditional.

If you're unsure if your offer was made with your circumstances in mind, you can always reach out to the university directly.

Receiving a slightly different offer or extra support doesn't mean your uni experience should be any different. You'll still be able to access the same opportunities as the other students and experience university life as you wish!