Completing College after Foster Care: A Retrospective Lens

Abstract

Completing a college degree is a major accomplishment under the best of circumstances. The economic and societal value of a college degree has the potential to produce critical benefits for vulnerable populations. For youth who “age out” of foster care, existing data reveal an obvious discrepancy in actual outcomes in comparison to their peers without foster care experiences. Despite implementation of state and federal programs and funding to support college students with foster care experience, national statistics indicate that these students continue to complete college at significantly lower rates than their non-foster cohorts. This qualitative multi-case study consisted of nine participants representing graduates from five different public colleges in Oklahoma with unique individual experiences in “aging out” of the foster care system and completing a college degree. Four themes emerged as critical to participants’ ability to persist and complete college: accessing tangible and intangible support, belief that a degree would improve their quality of life, the need to improve lives of others and “give back,” and being proactive yet cautious when accessing support from others. Their lived experiences and shared commonalities of what helped them to persist and complete college provide valuable insight for professionals in the social service and educational arenas.