This can be for a variety of reasons,

from financial commitments such as mortgage or rent repayments to family ties.

With greater life commitments, finding time for university can be tough.

Here are examples of the challenges that some students faced

and the ways in which these problems were overcome.

I didn’t want to enrol on something that I would be stuck on.

I decided right at the last minute. I wasn’t sure I had the time to do it.

I remember being written off quite early in life. I think that stays with you.

The friends and colleagues that I’ve made on the course, we all supported each other.

It’s nice because if you ever feel like you’re falling back,

you know someone else is there to bring you back up.

I can’t cope with this. There’s too many things all due in at the same time.

I’m never going to get through this.

I didn’t say much to my tutors or anything until it got a bit too bad.

By then it was quite obvious that all was not right.

So I spoke to a lecturer and she was brilliant.

She told me to take as much time as I needed and she would sort everything out.

When there was a problem, the lecturers were very understanding.

I still get a huge amount of satisfaction and pride of knowing that I have been the first person in our family to get a degree.

They assume that everyone is 19 and lives on campus. I found that really frustrating.

I got so fed up with the timetabling issues; I actually said I don’t want to do this anymore.

Three of us, we’ve had to fight for it, for the course really,

just to get from lectures to seminars to everything else.

We’ve had to fight for everything. It was so annoying I nearly gave up.

Even during holidays we had to sort things out. I got very angry at times.

I kept getting emails and we were having exams and essays to write. It went on for the whole year.

Searching for articles and information is absolutely ground-breaking for me,

because it has enabled me to know how to search rather than taking things at face value.

I’m here for the long haul. If that means throwing yourself in 100%, then you have to.

These students found that throwing themselves 100% into the University Challenge and overcoming personal and institutional barriers

meant that they not only became students but also graduates.