From Foster Care To & Through Postsecondary Education & Training:

Advances & Exemplars

or…..

Relationships Matter!

Ohio Reach

May 16, 20111

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Graduating from college meant that I won. My father was wrong when he said I wouldn’t amount to anything. Most of all, it meant that I would gain the knowledge to use my experience to help other people.

College meant freedom from my past and the ability to choose my future.

Maria, 2008 college graduate from foster care

*Photo courtesy of Orphan Foundation of America (www.orphan.org). 2008 Casey/OFA Scholar

Improving College Access & Success for Students from Foster Care by…..

Financial Aid Options & Packaging

Collaborative Partnerships

Institutional Supports & Systems Collaborations

Information, Tools & Consultation

State & Federal Policy

Higher Education Advocates for the Improvement of College Outcomes for Students from Foster Care

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4 Federal Policies that Impact Postsecondary Education Opportunities for Students Coming

from Foster Care

Promoting Safe and Stable Families Amendments (2001) (Chafee Education & Training Vouchers/ETV)

up to $5,000 per academic year grants to current and former foster youth to help pay for college or specialized education.

ETV grants are funded by the federal government and administered by the states.

$47,000,000 est. nationally/$5,000 = +/-10,000 recipients

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Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (2008)

• explicitly makes youth who entered kinship guardianship from foster care at age 16 or older eligible for ETV

• Option for states to extend care to age 19, 20 or 21 (and receive Title IV-E reimbursements)

• Increased transition planning requirements – including information about the supports and services that may be needed to achieve educational/training goals.

College Cost Reduction Act (2008)• makes clear that for the purposes of federal financial aid, an “independent student” includes a youth who is “an orphan, in foster care, or a ward of the court at any time when the individual was 13 years of age or older.”

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1. TRIO & GEAR UP: target and serve students in or aging out of foster care

2. Staff development activities: strategies for recruiting and serving students from foster care

3. Definition of independent student: is or was in foster care when 13 years of age or older; was in legal guardianship as determined by court (FAFSA questions 55-60)

4. FAFSA: public awareness campaign; EZ FAFSA; 12 month Pell

5. Student Support Services: foster an institutional climate supportive of students in or aging out of foster care1. Housing2. Specifically designed programs

6. FIPSE: Demonstration projects to provide support services to ensure students who were in foster care until age 18 enroll and succeed in postsecondary education

The Reauthorized Higher Education Opportunity Act

(P.L. 110-315)

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Specifically designed programs…..

Guardian Scholars spread (45+ in CA, NY, CO, GA, FL & IN)

FORWARD (SHSU) & Foster Care Alumni (ACC), Renaissance Scholars (CA), College Success Program (WA), Fostering Scholars (WA), Governors Scholars (WA), Foster Youth Success Initiative/FYSI (CA CC), Linkage to Education (CA), CFSP/OFA (nationwide)

• Statewide higher education/child welfare systems collaborations in CA, WA, CT, MI, OH, NC,TX (see pg. 43 in Supporting Success)

Austin Community College’s Foster Care Alumni Program:“Campus Champions”

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Rob..Austin Community College Automotive Technology program student and FCA

luggage drive coordinator.

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FCA JUMPSTART ORIENTATION 2011

4 Day Workshop Tuesday, July 12 - Friday, July 15, 2011

Supporting Success: Improving Higher Education Outcomes for Students from Foster Care

(Version 2.0)A Framework for Program Enhancement

Available free from Casey Family Programs www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/SupportingSuccess.htm

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Updates in version 2.0 of Supporting Success include: New and updated profiles of outstanding support approaches at community and four year colleges (see Chapter 5, pp. 44-60) • Information on how several state higher education and child welfare systems are working together to establish improved support services statewide (see page 43)

• A detailed update of the California Community College Chancellor's Office Foster Youth Success Initiative (FYSI) (pp. 44-45)

• How the reauthorized Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) and the Fostering Connections Act increase higher education opportunities for students from foster care. (see appendix A, pp.65-68)

•Additional articles and resources (see Appendix D, pp. 93-96)

•All URLs have been updated on the active PDF…for a few weeks hopefully.

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Providing Effective Financial Aid Assistance to Students from Foster Care and Unaccompanied Homeless Youth

www.casey.org/Resources/Publications/

www.caseylifeskills.org

Education Supplements Level III – High School Level IV – Postsecondary Education &

Training

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Getting Started …..

1. Administrative support & championing

2. Assign a lead for an assessment & planning process

3. Initiate your college’s ‘logic model w/ community collaborators.

4. Use a proven process model to develop the support program

See Program Planning and Improvement guide (pg. 79, Appendix C & www.casey.org for unprotected Word document)

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JOHN EMERSONPOSTSECONDARY EDUCATION ADVISOR

CASEY FAMILY PROGRAMSJEMERSON@CASEY.ORG

(206) 270-4921

Thank You!

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