Alternative offers
Our reduced and alternative offers recognise the challenges people face in achieving their academic potential, giving everyone a fair chance of getting into university.
We're committed to widening access to York, particularly for applicants from backgrounds underrepresented in higher education.
Our contextual admissions and access schemes ensure our talented community is diverse and inclusive. Take the first steps to higher education and get a taste of your uni experience.
You can take a look at each of the schemes and programmes below to understand if you may be eligible for support and a reduced offer. Each scheme or programme may have varied eligibility criteria, so it's worth considering our full range of support.
Related links
York Access Scheme
York Access Scheme gives you the chance to let us know about circumstances that might affect your progression to uni.
Contextual offers
Contextual offers provide fairness to applicants facing social and economic barriers in the journey to university. Contextual offers let us look at more than just exam results to recognise achievements despite challenging contexts.
Mitigating circumstances
Mitigating circumstances are events beyond your control that significantly prevent you from reaching your true academic potential. These events may affect your ability to attend school, prepare classwork, complete homework, revise for and attend examinations.
Alternative Widening Participation offer
Sixth-form or college students that complete all elements of one of our eligible programmes can access an alternative offer up to three grades below the standard offer published in the prospectus. These tailored programmes are designed around talented students and provide support to enable them to access and succeed in Higher Education. The Widening Participation programme's we have on offer include:
- Next Step York
- YorWay to York
- Black Access Programme
- York Experience Summer School
- Realising Opportunities
MOOCs
Our Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are free, open to everyone and help prepare you for higher education. If you've taken part in one of these free online courses you could also be eligible for a reduced offer:
Student stories
Hear directly from our students about a range of topics: applying to York; why they chose York; societies and activities; student support and funding; and general tips for student life at York.