Foster youth who age out of the system often do not attend higher education (Brandford & English, 2004; Wolanon, 2005). “Less than 11% of children that have been in the foster care system will go on to college…[and]… the Federal government also helps children who were in foster care in their teen years through the Fostering Adoption to Further Student Achievement Act” (Rowan, 2014). Despite receiving financial aid to cover the cost of education, many youth continue on after care to obtain jobs in low-income industries instead of attending college.
Understanding why this lack of higher education enrollment and retention occurs can become the first step in creating programs and resources geared to help assist these youth into succeeding. There …show more content…
One possible reason is the absence of motivation to attend in the first place. Even further, looking at academic self-perception and support from educators, social workers and caretakers may provide clues as to why such motivation may be deficient should this be a factor. There is a substantial amount of money that has been invested into allowing foster youth to attend secondary education upon leaving the system. According to Nathanael Okpych (2012), there is roughly $60 million set aside to assist youth with college. In addition, many states offer their youth tuition waivers, scholarships and grants to further ensure youth can afford college (Okpych, 2012). Based on Okpych’s article on the review of federal policy, one can conclude that ability to afford higher education is not a likely factor in youth’s decision to attend …show more content…
Foster care alumni as role models created a successful intervention and linked youth with mentors. This demonstrates that when proper support is applied, motivation to attend college increases. This could be a contributing factor as to why foster youth do not attend college. One additional avenue for the study is to track youth from high school graduation, college enrollment and retention in relation to providing support to strengthen the findings that motivation to attend and stay in college is increased when support from the system is applied.
A study on college aspirations and expectations of foster youth by Kirk, Lewis, Nilsen & Colvin (2011) revealed that self-perception and support were two key factors in predicting both educational aspirations and expectations. It suggested that trauma background and lack of support might be associated with youth’s aspirations, or motivations, to attend
Understanding why this lack of higher education enrollment and retention occurs can become the first step in creating programs and resources geared to help assist these youth into succeeding. There …show more content…
One possible reason is the absence of motivation to attend in the first place. Even further, looking at academic self-perception and support from educators, social workers and caretakers may provide clues as to why such motivation may be deficient should this be a factor. There is a substantial amount of money that has been invested into allowing foster youth to attend secondary education upon leaving the system. According to Nathanael Okpych (2012), there is roughly $60 million set aside to assist youth with college. In addition, many states offer their youth tuition waivers, scholarships and grants to further ensure youth can afford college (Okpych, 2012). Based on Okpych’s article on the review of federal policy, one can conclude that ability to afford higher education is not a likely factor in youth’s decision to attend …show more content…
Foster care alumni as role models created a successful intervention and linked youth with mentors. This demonstrates that when proper support is applied, motivation to attend college increases. This could be a contributing factor as to why foster youth do not attend college. One additional avenue for the study is to track youth from high school graduation, college enrollment and retention in relation to providing support to strengthen the findings that motivation to attend and stay in college is increased when support from the system is applied.
A study on college aspirations and expectations of foster youth by Kirk, Lewis, Nilsen & Colvin (2011) revealed that self-perception and support were two key factors in predicting both educational aspirations and expectations. It suggested that trauma background and lack of support might be associated with youth’s aspirations, or motivations, to attend