A new NASFAA research report examining the effects of foster care on college access and success for undergraduate students found that despite receiving more financial aid, students who enter college from the foster care system are less than half as likely to complete a postsecondary education program.
The report, College Access, Financial Aid, and College Success for Undergraduates from Foster Care, found that only 26 percent of foster care alumni who entered postsecondary education in 1995 completed a degree or certificate program by 2001, compared to 56 percent of other students. In addition, foster care alumni were more likely than their counterparts to leave school without earning a degree or certificate (53 percent versus 31 percent).
These lower levels of college access and persistence occurred even though a much higher share of foster care alumni received Federal Pell Grants (73 percent versus 27 percent) and state grants (28 percent versus 15 percent). And, foster care alumni received higher financial aid awards, on average.
"Our nation's foster care system is structured to protect youth in foster care from abuse and neglect during their early schooling years, but it does not have strong systems for preparing these young people to adjust to a postsecondary education environment," said Ryan J. Davis, NASFAA's research and policy associate and author of the report.
Each year, there are approximately 800,000 orphaned, neglected, or abused children and adolescents in the American foster care system. About 300,000 of these youth are between the ages of 18 and 24, the traditional college-going years. Research on youth in foster care indicates that many experience a number of challenges that impede their ability to gain access to higher education. These challenges include:
- Physical and mental health problems
- Attending multiple elementary and secondary schools
- Homelessness
- Substance abuse, and
- Poverty
These challenges likely affect these students' access to higher education. Prior studies have revealed that only 10 percent of all traditionally college-aged youth from foster care enroll in some form of postsecondary education, even though nearly 70 percent have aspirations to do so.
The NASFAA report uses data from the National Center for Education Statistics' National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) and Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Survey (BPS) to compare the demographic characteristics, financial aid awards, and six-year college degree attainment rates of undergraduates who spent any time in the foster care system with students who did not spend any time in the system.
According to the NPSAS data, less than .5 percent of the 19.2 million undergraduates attending postsecondary educational institutions in academic year 2003-2004 were from foster care (these students identified themselves as a "ward/dependent of the court" on the Free Application for Student Financial Aid (FASFA).
These data also show that the foster care alumni were more likely to be students of color; 49 percent of undergraduates from foster care were African American, Latino, Asian, or Native American, compared with 37 percent of those who did not spend time in foster care.
Foster care alumni also had annual incomes that were substantially lower than all other financially independent undergraduates. For example, among undergraduates attending private institutions, the average 2002 income for students from foster care was only about $5,000, compared with an average of nearly $39,000 for all other independent undergraduates and almost $63,000 for traditional-age undergraduates who were financially dependent.
Despite their lower income levels, youth from foster care who attended college, generally, were just as likely to attend four-year public and private colleges and universities as other students. Roughly 40 percent of the foster care alumni who were in college in 2003-04 attended four-year colleges and universities, compared to 44 percent of their non-foster-care peers. So, the institutional choice and selectivity levels of youth from foster care were very similar to those their non-foster-care peers and foster care youth appear to receive enough financial assistance to attend institutions similar to those attended by other students.
A higher share of youth from foster care were also enrolled full-time. So, once they enroll in higher education, they seem as likely to attend their institutions on a full-time basis as other undergraduates.
Although foster care alumni may be entering postsecondary education with the necessary financial resources to succeed, they likely lack the structured support systems and other services that would help them to achieve their degrees.
According to the 2001 BPS data, only a quarter of the foster care alumni who entered college in fall 1995 had completed a degree or certificate program within six years. Even more troubling, the primary reasons for not completing a degree program was unknown for more than three-quarters of all non-completing undergraduates from foster care. Assessing what these students need in order to be successful in college is limited, primarily by a lack of general research to identify obstacles prior to college enrollment.
"It is clear that foster care alumni have not received the necessary support to pursue higher education opportunities or to complete degree programs at the same rates as their peers," Davis said. "More specifically, while college access rates are dismal for youth formerly in foster care, degree attainment rates among those who are able to begin higher education are even more disheartening. Given this result, federal and state governments and institutions of higher education should consider making changes to the ways they are attempting to identify, recruit, track, and retain students from foster care. Campus officials and government leaders need to do more to provide the services that this vulnerable and neglected population needs in order for more of them to achieve a college education."
The report provides a comprehensive list of recommendations for government and institutional leaders to improve the rates at which foster care alumni access and succeed in higher education.
College Access, Financial Aid, and College Success for Undergraduates from Foster Care is the third and final report in a series of studies NASFAA has published under the NASFAA/Nelnet College Access Series. This series examines important issues in college access, financial aid, and persistence. The subjects covered under the series were decided by NASFAA staff, in consultation with the Association's Research Committee. NASFAA would like to thank Nelnet for its generous support in sponsoring this series. Copies of this and the previous report issued under the NASFAA/Nelnet College Access Series may be downloaded from the NASFAA Web site.
By Kenneth Redd
NASFAA Director of Research and Policy Analysis
Posted July 25, 2006 on www.NASFAA.org, the Web Site of the
National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA).
Copyright 2006. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited
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