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Higher education can mean the difference between a dead-end job with no possibilities and an employment opportunity with higher wages, benefits, and room for advancement.  How can we make sure that some of our most vulnerable children—older and former foster youth—have access to the life-enriching experience of going to college?

Right now, in New York State, we have an exciting opportunity to create a scholarship program that brings us closer to this goal than ever before!  Assemblymember Scarborough intorduced a bill (A.6002) to create a foster care higher education scholarship program. This is an important step towards making sure that foster youth have the tools they need to build successful lives as adults.

Why do older and former foster care youth need our help?
These youth represent one of New York State’s most vulnerable populations.  Many of them are facing, or are at-risk of facing: homelessness, health and mental health problems, interaction with the juvenile justice system, unemployment, financial difficulties, and more.

With college expenses on the rise, foster care youth with any hope of affording a post-secondary education are forced to piece together numerous grants and take on loans, which can be extremely daunting (if not impossible!) without family help, guidance counselors, or the many other supports upon which non-foster youth rely. 

How can the foster youth scholarship program help?
This assistance would help foster youth meet the total costs of attending college, meaning tuition, fees AND living expenses such as room and board, books, supplies, and transportation!  Here’s how it would work:

After accounting for other grant awards received through FAFSA, TAP, and the Education and Training Vouchers program, the foster youth scholarship program kicks in to cover the rest.  So, the combination of other grants and the foster youth scholarship award equals the full cost of attendance.

Who would benefit from foster youth scholarship program?

The program would apply to youth who are (1) between the ages of 16 and 23, (2) have received foster care services from the State for a designated amount of time after their 16th birthday or were adopted out of the system after their 16th birthday, and (3) are enrolled as full-time or part-time students in an in-state undergraduate program or vocational training program.