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In order to fully support the foster students in paying for college and best practices, the following are necessary:
1) Helping students prepare for their transition to successful adulthood.
2) College support networks and college support programs.
3) Creating post-secondary pathways
4) Offering post-secondary educational opportunities
5) Encourage and engage in mentoring relationships
6) Become a volunteer
By bridging the gaps and overcoming these growing concerns for these foster youth from succeeding both academically and professionally in life is the overall goal.
By having supportive relationships and caring individuals to support these foster youth is a critical component for the successful outcomes of this generation.

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The Foster Scholars:

A community of scholars with lived experience in foster care committed to transforming the narrative and outcomes for college-going foster youth through practice, research,

and advocacy.

These are a group of individuals who previously grew up in the foster care system and are very well educated and have gone on to do scholarly work in their educational and career fields.

Link:
https://www.thefosterscholars.org/about

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Meet the Foster Scholars. Learn about how their transforming the narrative and outcomes for college-going foster youth through practice, research, and advocacy. and advocacy.

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In reading more specifically about the ethical standards from The Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) Principle III - Beneficence We engage in altruistic attitudes and actions that promote goodness and contribute to the health and welfare of others. We treat others courteously. We consider the thoughts and feelings of others. We work toward positive and beneficial outcomes. (CAS Statement of Ethical Principles).
As a future Academic Advisor, I would specifically integrate this ethical standard into my work. I would keep a professional demeanor and ask the student several questions about their situation and about their past in order to help me identify the tools and resources necessary to point the student in the right direction. I feel that in my current role as a Foster Care Liaison and in my future role as an academic advisor with each student, you must always assess the situation, advocate for the student, follow up with resources, and document every situation.

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Slide #10-Designation of Liaison Officer to Assist Students Who Are or Were in Foster Care

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Slide #10-Designation of Liaison Officer to Assist Students Who Are or Were in Foster Care

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Each institution of higher education shall designate at least one employee of the institution to act as a liaison officer for current and incoming students at the institution who are or were formerly in the conservatorship of the Department of Family and Protective Service

Citation: TEC Tex. Educ. Code Section 51.9356

Link: https://texas.public.law/statutes/tex._educ._code_section_51.9356

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Texas Education Code Section 51.9356 - Designation of Liaison Officer to Assist Students Who Are or Were in Foster Care

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Statutes Title 3, Higher Education; Subtitle A, Higher Education in General; Chapter 51, Provisions Generally Applicable to Higher Education; Section 51.9356, Designation of Liaison Officer to Assist Students Who Are or Were in Foster Care. Refreshed: 2023-07-23

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Last year, the Texas Legislature passed a new law that also allows foster youth to lock in the waiver benefit by participating in the state’s Preparation for Adult Living program, which earns them college credit.

The PAL Program
The Preparation for Adult Living (PAL) program was implemented in 1986 to ensure that older youth in substitute care are prepared for their inevitable departure from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services’ care and support.
Preparing youth for adulthood is much more than teaching them how to balance a checkbook and sign a lease. PAL services include involvement in programs aimed at improving youths' self-esteem and improving their ability to make responsible decisions. PAL helps youth face the challenges of adulthood and independence.

Section 264.121 https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/87R/billtext/pdf/HB00700E.pdf

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Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008

Brief bulleted list of the law and legal requirements:

Ø  Emphasis on school stability

Ø  The need for coordination between state and regional child welfare

Ø  Assurance that the placements take into account the appropriateness of the current education setting

Citation: Public Law 110-351
Link: //www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-110publ351/pdf/PLAW-110publ351.pdf

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College for All Texans is an additional resource to foster students in order to assist these students financially towards getting their college education.

Encourage foster youth currently or formerly under the conservatorship of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) and those adopted from DFPS to pursue higher education in Texas by providing eligible students free tuition at state-supported colleges or universities.

Citation: TEC 54.001
Link: http://www.collegeforalltexans.com/apps/financialaid/tofa2.cfm?ID=551

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Slide #6 Constitutional Law - Foster Child Bill of Rights

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Slide #6 Constitutional Law - Foster Child Bill of Rights

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Tex. Family Code Ann. § 263.008; 2011 Tex. Gen. Laws, HB 2170, Chap. 791
The Foster Child Bill of Rights was created for children in foster care to include rights to food, shelter and education; medical, dental, vision and mental health services.  Participation in school-related extra-curricular activities or community activities.  Contact and communication with case workers, guardians and court-appointed special advocates. This law also requires that DFPS provides the foster child a written copy and oral review of the Bill of Rights to each child

Link: https://www.ncsl.org/human-services/-foster-care-bill-of-rights#table1

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Tiano (2022) highlights in the following article:
*Yet of all states, Texas has long been among the most willing to invest in foster youth interested in going to college, waiving tuition and requiring only minimal conditions of students who enroll with the subsidies.
*The tuition waiver program in Texas also has produced results for thousands of budding scholars: Recipients are 3.5 times more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree than their foster care peers who attend college with no such support, according to a 2020 study.
*The Lone Star State is one of 37 states that offer some sort of tuition waiver for youth with foster care experience, and it was among the first to create such a benefit.
*Today, roughly 3,000 Texas foster youth use the waivers each year.

Tiano, S. (2022). Texas Foster Youth Get Free College Tuition, but Nearly Half of the State's Eligible Students Don't Use It. The Imprint. https://imprintnews.org/foster-care/texas-college-tuition-waiver-underused/62905

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This article from Walsh (2021) talks about the affordability challenges that foster youth face in higher education today. The circumstances discussed in this article are the following:
*There needs to be more federal research done specifically on the foster youth population.
*Foster youth aging out of the system are at a greater disadvantage than many first-generation college students when it comes to navigating the world of college applications, the FAFSA, and paying for college.
*State, federal, and local governments have an obligation to ensure adequate resources and a path into adulthood for youth with experience in foster care
*Students that are foster youth face disproportionate barriers when seeking a degree in comparison to their peers.
*Less than 3 percent of foster youth receive a bachelor's degree.
*If foster youth are to thrive in college and beyond, they will need targeted support before, during, and for a transition period after college.

Walsh, A.(2021) College Affordability Challenges Facing Youth with Experience in Foster Care. The Century Foundation. https://tcf.org/content/report/college-affordability-challenges-facing-youth-experience-foster-care/

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What You Should Know

There are over 400,000 children in foster care nationwide, with 20,000 aging out of the system every year, some at ages as young as 18.

Education is often referred to as "the great equalizer," but youth who were in foster care-and thus started life disadvantaged-face many barriers when trying to achieve higher education.

Services and programs that provide guidance and aid for foster youth seeking higher education exist at both the state and federal levels, but the level of aid is not nearly enough to make college affordable, nor does it cover the additional mental, emotional, and intellectual support that youth who were in foster care may need.

There needs to be more federal research done specifically on the foster youth population. This cohort is often mixed-in with youth who are homeless, and or orphaned. The lack of data makes it hard to isolate serious problems because data often drives policy.

Foster youth are often an afterthought when it comes to making state and federal policies. Disenfranchised members of society by no fault of their own, children in foster care face extraordinary challenges when making the transition into adulthood-with getting into and paying for college being one of the most daunting. Unfortunately, the data, research, and policy approaches toward ensuring that foster youth can access higher education and achieve their full potential have all fallen short. Greater investment in existing federal programs and reforms designed to promote postsecondary success among foster youth are needed if higher education is to make progress toward its aspirational role as "the great equalizer."

This report discusses the barriers that foster youth face when trying to access the higher education system, particularly those who are still in the system when they "age out." It provides new data on the affordability challenges that foster youth in higher education have, analyzes current policy interventions, and recommends how policymakers can better support the lives and education of these individuals.

Background

The foster care system is an essential part of the nation's social safety net. Serving as a refuge for children who have been removed from their homes by the state due to neglect or other abuse, the U.S. foster care system serves roughly 440,000 youth nationwide. Once these children enter the foster care system, the state may place them in a private home, a group home, or an institution.

Within four years of aging out of the foster care system, 70 percent of foster youth will be on government assistance, 25 percent will not have completed high school, 50 percent will have no earnings.

The price of underinvesting in our foster youth does not just result in deeply unfair individual circumstances for youth trying to make their way in the world: it also results in $1 million in societal costs per foster youth. Within four years of aging out, 70 percent of foster youth will be on government assistance, 25 percent will not have completed high school, 50 percent will have no earnings, and those who do have earnings will make an average annual income of only $7,500. A study by the Alliance for Excellent Education showed that a single 18-year-old who does not complete high school earns $260,000 less in income and pays $60,000 less in federal and state income taxes over their lifetime. Furthermore, foster care youth represent nearly 15 percent of the inmates of state prisons and almost 8 percent of the inmates of federal prisons, and the cost of incarcerating former foster youth is roughly $5.1 billion per year. On the other hand, research shows that when communities invest in foster youth and make sure they're well taken care of through extended care programs, these communities see a return of roughly two dollars for every dollar invested.

Higher education is a path to a stable future for many youth aging out of foster care, but too often the barriers for this population prove insurmountable. Foster youth aging out of the system are at a greater disadvantage than many first-generation college students when it comes to navigating the world of college applications, the FAFSA, and paying for college. Providing foster youth clear and accessible pathways into higher education can be one avenue to help them thrive as adults. A study by the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative examined the importance of education during the critical coming-of-age years. The study concluded that over the past ten years, 300,000 foster youth have aged out of foster care without the support needed to successfully transition into adulthood. Education can often be a ticket to a better life, but only a small percentage of foster youth attend a college or university.

State, federal, and local governments have not only a moral obligation to these children, but also a legal one.

State, federal, and local governments have an obligation to ensure adequate resources and a path into adulthood for youth with experience in foster care. It is a government agency that makes the decision to seek placement of a child in the foster care system, and while the foster parents or institution are responsible for the day-to-day care of the minor, the government agency remains ultimately responsible as a surrogate in loco parentis for the child, and therefore makes all legal decisions. State, federal, and local governments have not only a moral obligation to these children, but also a legal one.

The Challenges College-bound Foster Youth Face

Students that are foster youth face disproportionate barriers when seeking a degree in comparison to their peers. Foster youth go to college at lower rates than their non-foster peers, and often have trouble paying the total cost when they do. Even after federal aid, the costs can be unsurmountable: college-bound foster youth who age out of foster care, apart from rare circumstances, have no financial sponsor or safety net.

Painting a full picture of the challenges foster youth face when trying to access college, however, is difficult because federal data on foster youth and college access is limited by the questions asked when collecting survey and administrative data. The FAFSA application provides some information, for example, but it only collects data on foster youth who are under age 24 and who check "orphan" on their financial aid application-a category that is slightly broader than former foster youth, because it applies to any student who is an orphan, ward of the court, or in foster care. This also means that researchers have only limited data-gleaned from other sources-on former foster youth who are over the age of 24.

These data limitations become clear when trying to determine the size of the student population. The count for "orphans" in higher education in 2008-according to the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study survey, which used a narrower definition to describe the "orphan" category- was about 1.1 percent of undergraduate enrollment, or approximately 80,000 students. There wasn't any publicly available data on this population again until 2016, when the same survey used a new definition that includes students ages 24 and above, counting 6.2 percent of undergraduate enrollment, or about 1 million students. We know from the orphan age breakdown that over half in that population are ages 24 and above, so a lot of that jump from 2008 to 2016 is simply from expanding the definition to include older students-though some of it may also be student populations becoming more diverse and nontraditional. However, as previously noted, this category includes orphans, wards of the court, emancipated minors, and students in legal guardianship-a broader group of people than just former foster youth.

Finding data on how those students fare once enrolled is also difficult, but available data show large disparities between this population and the broader student body regarding things such as financial resources and degree completion. According to the Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) survey, 7 percent of orphans had completed an associate's degree within five years of enrolling, compared to 18 percent of non-orphans. At the bachelor's level, 44 percent of orphans who entered a program had a degree within five years, compared to 63 percent for their counterparts. (See Figure 1.) Orphans are also slightly more likely to attend college at a for-profit institution, many of which prey on vulnerable students, and some of which may even leave students worse off than before they attended that institution.

Figure 1

This population faces significant financial need. About 70 percent of orphans will be assigned an Expected Family Contribution of $0 after completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), because 61 percent of orphans have an income under the Federal Poverty Line (compared to 29 percent of non-orphans). Furthermore, a majority of orphans (55 percent) are nontraditional students, meaning they are ages 24 and older, compared to 40 percent of non-orphan students.

According to National Center for Education Statistics data, more than half (57 percent) of orphans had a yearly net price for college (that is, after grants and aid) of at least three-quarters of their income, compared to 24 percent of non-orphans and 36 percent of non-orphan independent students. (See Figure 2.)

Figure 2

Current Policy Interventions

Programs supporting foster youth have traditionally received bipartisan backing at both the state and federal levels. This section looks at the role that state and federal policymakers have played in pursuing programs to support foster youth and their success in their education, and also discusses two types of federal programs that provide grant aid for foster students.

Sample State Policies

While not the focus of this report, it's important to acknowledge that states play a significant and wide-ranging role in postsecondary policies that affect foster youth. For example, thirty-eight states have some form of tuition waiver for foster youth. The waivers allow students of foster youth to attend select colleges tuition-free. However, these are not solely state policies: the federal John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood (formerly known as the John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program; hereafter, referred to as the Chafee Program) may supplement or even fund some of these state programs. More broadly, state higher education finance policies not specifically targeted to foster youth, such as the level of state investment going to public colleges and the amount of need-based financial aid available, can have an outsized impact on this population.

States have taken a variety of other tactics to support and protect foster youth entering higher education, both through policies directly targeted to this population and policies that have a disproportionate impact. In California, for example, foster students surpassed high school peers in applying for federal student aid by about 8 percentage points following the creation of the FAFSA Challenge, an event created a few years ago by the John Burton Advocates for Youth. The state also allows for priority registration, priority access to on-campus housing, expanded eligibility for state financial aid programs, and a state-funded, campus-based support program at forty-five community colleges. And in Maryland, the governor recently signed into law the Veteran's Education Protection Act, which closes the loophole in the federal 90/10 rule in the state, reducing an incentive for for-profit institutions to prey upon vulnerable populations such as foster youth that have access to non-Title IV dollars. The federal 90/10 rule requires that schools receive no more than 90 percent of their revenue from Title IV federal financial aid programs, but but for-profit schools have been circumventing the spirit of that rule by targeting students accessing other federal aid programs, such as GI bill educational benefits, Department of Defense tuition assistance, and Educational Training Vouchers (ETVs).

Federal Policies

The federal government has two main financing policies for former foster youth trying to afford college: easing the ability of students under age 24 to claim independence, opening up access to financial aid, and the Education Training Voucher program, providing funds to states to support students in postsecondary education.

Current and prospective college students in the United States complete the FAFSA to determine their eligibility for student financial aid. Foster youth are considered wards of the court by the FAFSA process: if the foster youth applicant is under the age of 24 when they apply, they are asked to complete a series of questions, which include but are not limited to whether they were in foster care or were a dependent or ward of the court at any time since turning age 13, even if they are no longer in foster care when filling out the form.

In 1975, the Pell grant covered almost 80 percent of the average cost of tuition, fees, room, and board at public four-year colleges; today, the maximum Pell grant covers just 29 percent of those costs.

Students that are wards of the court are automatically deemed independent and thus not required to provide financial information for their parents. Foster youth often have little to no income, so they often receive the maximum Pell grant amount. In 2017-18, 30 percent of Pell grant recipients received the maximum grant of $5,920. Of those students receiving the maximum, 48 percent of them were independent students. But for many students, the Pell grant is not enough, as it does not stretch as far as it used to. In 1975, the Pell grant covered almost 80 percent of the average cost of tuition, fees, room, and board at public four-year colleges; today, the maximum Pell grant covers just 29 percent of those costs.

The Chafee program includes a provision specifically designed to address college affordability: in 2002, Congress added the Education and Training Voucher Program to the Chafee Program as a potential source of tuition relief to foster youth who are age 26 or under. HHS allocates federal funds to states based on their percentage of children and youth placed in foster care for the purpose of creating programs for youth who have experienced foster care at age 14 or older. ETVs provide financial assistance to foster youth who attend an accredited college, university, vocational, or technical college. The maximum award a student can receive is $5,000 per academic year, and the awards are determined by the cost of attendance (COA) formula established by the college or university where the youth is enrolled, along with any unmet need they may have within their financial aid award. Not every youth will receive the maximum amount, but the funds may be used for tuition and non-tuition costs. The maximum award amount has not kept up with the cost of attendance, and the program has not had an increase in funding in years, so many states quickly run out of Chafee Program funds each year.

Some states administer ETV funds through already existing state-funded programs that support older and former foster youth. Other states, such as California, administer funds through their financial aid agency. Florida and a few other states administer funds at a local level, where all child welfare programs are managed through community-based agencies. The availability of funds vary by state, and the pot of money is limited; in a state such as California-where it is first come, first served-students are frequently turned away because of a lack of funding.

Pending Legislative Proposals

A number of senators and representatives from both parties have recently sponsored proposals supporting college-aspiring foster youth at varying levels of investment.

For example, a House and Senate companion bill, the Fostering Success in Higher Education Act of 2019, would give $500,000 or more per fiscal year to each state for activities that improve college access, retention, and completion rates for foster youth. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) sponsored the Increasing Opportunity for Former Foster Youth Act, which appropriates $20 million a year under the Chafee Program to improve adulthood outcomes for foster youth aging out of the system. The bill targets foster youth who are at risk of homelessness, or who are expecting a child. It is also aimed at foster youth who lack financial stability, and foster youth who have been involved with the juvenile justice system.

Recommendations

A lot can be done in the long-term effort to reform the foster care system more broadly that will impact the ability of foster youth to succeed as adults, and specifically to achieve their higher education goals. Specifically, to improve college affordability for this population, federal policymakers could pursue several key strategies.

Improve data collection. It is difficult to understand the challenges facing this population in paying for school, not to mention design and cost out targeted programs, when data collection is sporadic and imprecise. Currently, it is virtually impossible to isolate data on foster youth in federal government databases when "foster youth" as a metric is rolled into "orphan," and their data points are mixed with homeless youth, veterans, and other disadvantaged youth. The lack of current and precise data makes it difficult to quantify the size of the population, the scale of financial need, the debt burdens they face, and more.

Federal funds for campus-based support programs. Foster youth in campus-based support programs do better in their academics than other foster youth. GPA metrics collected from a two-year California College Pathways study found that in both 2012-13 and 2013-14 foster youth students participating in campus-based support programs specifically for foster youth had higher GPAs than the general population of foster youth. Congress should expand support for campus-based support programs that serve youth who had experienced foster care at the age of or after 13.

Increase ETV funding. The ETV program is a standalone affordability program well-targeted at the foster youth population-it just does not provide enough support. A coalition of 110 national and state organizations have asked Congress to increase the ETV funding by $500 million. Given the outstanding costs facing foster youth as a percentage of income, as compared to the broader population, it's clear that this targeted investment is critical to leveling the playing field for these students.

Extend eligibility for ETV funding. Students often drop out of a higher education program and then return, sometimes years later; the majority of orphans are nontraditional students (ages 24 and older). To ensure that these individuals are able to draw funds during their entire undergrad tenure, the window for ETV eligibility needs to extend from five years to at least match Pell grant eligibility of six years, possibly longer. Also, this extension would need to be accompanied by a funding increase so as to not reduce the availability of the program to new incoming students. More data on the trajectory of foster youth throughout the higher education system will help identify the appropriate length.

Support expansion of federal need-based aid. Other financial aid reforms targeted at low-income students will almost certainly have an outsized effect on the foster youth population. For example, given that 39 percent of foster youth qualify for the maximum Pell grant, proposals to double the Pell grant and index the grant to inflation will almost certainly have an outsized impact.

Incentivize extended foster care. For many states, aging-out of the foster care system happens at age 18, but for many foster youth, the foster care system is the only source of structure and support that they have as they come to age-which means aging out is more like going over a cliff. Federal policy could do more to incentivize the twenty states that currently do not extend that support to age 21 to do so, which would at least provide foster youth with a support system if they do decide to pursue higher education. Stronger federal policy, if done right, will allow foster youth the opportunity for better services and a chance to have a better young adult outcome than they otherwise would.

Looking Ahead

The federal government needs to do more to ensure the success of foster youth: too many foster youth report a goal of enrolling in college, yet few attain a degree. Broad efforts to expand need-based financial aid, combined with support for the targeted ETV program, will provide a much-needed relief to an often forgotten cohort. Graduating high school and college at lower rates than their peers, foster youth face more than just financial hardships from the start. The federal government can do more, and in the midst of a pandemic and recession that has the harshest effects on the most vulnerable in our society, now is the time to act.

Tags: higher education, foster care system

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College Affordability Challenges Facing Youth with Experience in Foster Care

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Foster youth are often an afterthought when it comes to making state and federal policies. Disenfranchised members of society by no fault of their own,

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One of the Professional Associations associated with foster care students in college is called Education Reach for Texans. I was able to attend this conference in my current role as a Campus Champion and Foster Care Liaison for the Financial Aid Office at Texas A&M University-San Antonio.  Education Reach for Texans seeks to eliminate barriers to success and build support programs for alumni of care attending public colleges and universities in the state of Texas.  There is an annual conference held each year and those that attend are post-secondary educators, foster care liaisons, social services workers, and foster alumni.

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This Legal Guide is important in my future role as an Academic Advisor in order to provide support, care, and guidance to foster youth on their educational journey. I would like to assist and advocate for those foster students attending college and the barriers or obstacles while trying to graduate from college.  I feel that it is very necessary to connect this particular student population with the necessary vital campus and community resources. There is also a retention issue and advisors do play a key role in helping students persist and succeed in college.

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As a Foster Care Liaison and Future Academic Advisor in Higher Education, foster care students and paying for college are two important subjects with my higher education background.  There are many benefits, opportunities, and resources for foster care students in college and beyond.
The Department of Protective and Regulatory Services(DFPS) issues foster students' tuition and fee waivers to attend college for free.  This fee waiver is available for life to all foster and adopted students who qualify.  This is a benefit that unfortunately some foster students are not aware of.
These types of programs are breaking barriers and obstacles for our foster young adults in order for them to be successful in living and working independently as well. Having supportive relationships and caring individuals to support this student population is very necessary for their current and future academic and career goals.