[Oasfaa] Reaching Out to Foster Youth

Wed Mar 28 08:04:40 CDT 2007

This article appeared in the NASFAA News today and I'm blatantly
violating NASFAA's copyright but I don't think they'll mind.  You know,
I really think we could be doing a lot more with our partnership with
Citizens Caring for Children than just providing socks, underwear, and
money.  We really should also be offering our services as financial aid
professionals to help the older foster youth move to college.  

Food for thought...and a possible topic at our business meeting on April
12?  
Pam McConahay 
Assoc. Dir., Compliance, Training & Lender Relations 
University of Oklahoma Financial Aid Services 
1000 Asp Avenue, Room 216 Norman OK 73019-4078
(405) 325-4617  Fax (405) 325-7608 
pmcconahay at ou.edu 

This message, and attachments if any,  from the University of Oklahoma
may contain confidential or privileged information.  If you are not the
intended recipient of this information, you are prohibited from reading,
disclosing, reproducing, distributing, disseminating, or otherwise using
this information.  If you received this transmission in error, please
notify the sender and delete this message immediately.  Thank you. 

Reaching Out to Foster Youth

Young adults who make it to postsecondary programs after leaving foster
care are frequently challenged by many personal, academic, and financial
barriers that impede their progress and college success, according to
John Emerson, senior manager of education for Casey Family Programs
<http://www.casey.org/Home> . 

In the recent article, From Foster Care to College
<http://www.nasfaa.org/PDFs/2007/FosterSpread.pdf>
http://www.nasfaa.org/PDFs/2007/FosterSpread.pdf
<http://www.nasfaa.org/PDFs/2007/FosterSpread.pdf>   in the National
Association of Student Personnel Administrators' (NASPA) Leadership
Exchange, Emerson underscores the vital impact that postsecondary
personnel can have on the lives of foster care youth and is encouraged
by the progress being made by the growing number of programs spearheaded
by senior student affairs officers (SSAOs). 

"Each year some 20,000 youth age 16 and older transition from foster
care to legal emancipation and find themselves on their own. Without
adequate independent living skills, resources, or safety nets, many
experience homelessness and unemployment," writes Emerson, explaining
the unique issues that foster care youth face when transitioning from
foster care to adulthood. 

It is estimated that only 7 to 13 percent of youth living in foster care
go on to enroll in postsecondary schooling compared to 27 percent of the
general population. 

"There are too many foster care youth falling through the cracks," said
Tim Christensen, NASFAA vice president for planning & development. "It
is incumbent on all of us involved in postsecondary access to reach out
to these students and understand the unique and specific challenges they
face. Trying to reach all underserved students by painting each subgroup
within that population with the same broad brush is simply
unacceptable." 

Not only do students from foster care lack the support structure that
other students take for granted, many also have reservations about
identifying their pasts. This makes it difficult to reach out to them to
provide information, funding and other resources to help them achieve
their postsecondary educational goals. 

"We have a population that feels like they should hide their status,"
said Marcia Weston, NASFAA Director of College Goal Sunday Operations
and who - like Christensen - has worked personally on NASFAA's foster
youth initiatives with organizations like Casey Family Programs. "Many
foster care youth that we have talked to have said that they weren't
even aware college was an option for them, let alone that there are
specific provisions and programs that may provide them more financial
aid than the average student." 

In recent months NASFAA has made it a priority to help aid
administrators, high school guidance counselors, and other school
personnel understand their role in reaching out to this underrepresented
population. Some of NASFAA's most recent work in this area includes: 

*	College Access, Financial Aid, and College Success for
Undergraduates from Foster Care
<http://www.nasfaa.org/SubHomes/ResearchHome/NASFAAFosterCare%20Report.P
df> , a publication that contains a comprehensive list of
recommendations for government and institutional leaders to improve
foster care success rates in higher education 
*	Foster Youth: Tips for Completing the FAFSA
<http://www.nasfaa.org/annualpubs/FosterYouthFAFSA.pdf> , a publication
for aid administrators and high school guidance counselors to help
foster care youth understand parts of the FAFSA that pertain
specifically to their situation 
*	Arranging a presentation with sponsorship by NASFAA's Student
Access and Diversity Committee at NASFAA's 2006 National Conference,
Reaching out to Foster Youth: The Unique Role of the Financial Aid
Administrator 
*	Reaching out specifically to students in foster care in
nationwide College Goal Sunday initiatives that help students fill out
the FAFSA. 
*	Participating in training financial aid administrators to serve
as foster youth liaisons in financial aid offices throughout the
California Community College System (CCCS). 
*	Planning a presentation, again with sponsorship from the Student
Access and Diversity Committee, at NASFAA's 2007 National Conference,
Foster Youth Success Initiative: The Financial Aid Office Outreach and
Retention Project, based on the CCCS experience. 
*	Building a coalition of states that have or are initiating
postsecondary services for youth in foster care.

Emerson points out that if foster youth attended postsecondary education
at the same rate as their peers, there would be an additional 100,000
additional foster youth attending college. 

"We have seen success in our outreach activities in the past several
years," says Christensen. "But there is much more to be done and NASFAA
will continue to work with Casey Family Programs and other similar
organizations to broaden access to these students, who first need to be
identified and then given information, resources, and positive
influencers to help them along the way to reaching their educational
goals." 

By Justin Draeger <mailto:DraegerJ at NASFAA.org>  
NASFAA Assistant Director for Communications 

Posted 03/28/07 to www.NASFAA.org <http://www.nasfaa.org/> . You can
read the complete Winter 2007 Leadership Exchange article
<http://www.nasfaa.org/PDFs/2007/FosterSpread.pdf>  on the NASFAA Web
site where it has been posted with permission from NASPA
<http://www.naspa.org/press/mediakit.cfm> . Redistribution to non-NASFAA
institutions is prohibited. Please submit Web Site questions or comments
to Web at NASFAA.org <mailto:Web at NASFAA.org> . 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.onenet.net/pipermail/oasfaa/attachments/20070328/ad1220a0/attachment.html