financial aid

While the country plunges ever deeper into uncertainty amid the worsening coronavirus pandemic, ongoing protests, and a looming high-stakes presidential election, California foster youth still see a future in academia – and they are applying in record numbers for federal help to attend college.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed off on about a dozen child welfare bills this year, including an effort to better support Native American children in the state’s child welfare system, diversion to help some parents avoid losing their children to foster care as a result of incarceration and rule changes to increase access to financial aid for foster youth in higher education.

Xavier Mountain remembers the last look his adoptive mother gave him before leaving him at a foster youth shelter. It was a look of relief. Mountain first entered the foster care system at age 2 because his father was an undocumented immigrant and his mother had substance use issues.

San Francisco-based John Burton Advocates for Youth is launching an initiative across California to help link more foster youth with financial aid resources in college. The goal of the year-long “California Foster Youth FAFSA Challenge” that begins in January is to make sure that foster youth in high schools across the state fill out financial aid forms for higher education, including the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

Here is a survey on the barriers facing unaccompanied homeless youth seeking federal financial aid. More than 900 people operating within the financial aid community were surveyed. The results revealed that homeless youth have an easier time getting access to financial aid; however, barriers still exist.

For the past 25 years, Californian community colleges have waived enrollment fees for foster youth and other financially needy students. For the past two years, the state’s foster youth have also had the right to priority registration for community college classes.

Time continues to wind down toward the end of 2012, which is also the deadline to get an agreement on federal budget and tax policy before America goes over the so-called fiscal cliff.