A new infusion of cash in Georgia will help young adults aging out of foster care attend one of the state’s 26 public universities or colleges.
The scholarship fund — the first of its kind in the state — is the result of a partnership between Fostering Success Act Inc., a nonprofit, and the University System of Georgia Foundation. Under the joint venture, the nonprofit has pledged an initial grant of $10 million.
School officials say the funding could potentially help hundreds of students by providing scholarships up to the full cost of attendance. It would fill a gap in the current landscape by removing one of the biggest barriers that often prevents young people aging out of foster care from attaining a higher education.
In Georgia, roughly 700 foster youth age out of the system between the ages of 18 and 21 each year, according to the nonprofit’s website. At least 300 students attending University System of Georgia schools currently self-identify as former foster youth, based on federal financial aid data, said Scott Bryant, CEO of the University System of Georgia Foundation.
School officials pointed to Jacob Izzo, a senior at Kennesaw State University, as someone whose personal story highlighted the need for a collaboration between the university system and the nonprofit. Izzo, a psychology major, entered foster care after his mother died when he was 17. Over the years, he has cobbled together loans, scholarships and earnings from a part-time Target job to pay his way at Kennesaw, where the in-state total cost of attendance is roughly $27,000 for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Even before the university system and nonprofit partnered last summer, Izzo’s university referred the 22-year-old to the Fostering Success Act Inc. when he faced a shortfall of more than $1,000 for the current school year.
“I’m glad,’’ Izzo said, when hearing about the new partnership. “The state needs to invest more into programs that help out foster kids.
“I can tell you, education is the most powerful thing that can really transfer, because a lot of my foster brothers, when they turned 18, they signed out of the system and they just go to drugs and gangs and stuff like that.”
The money for this unique collaboration comes from a novel source. In 2022, the Georgia General Assembly passed House Bill 424, also known as the Fostering Success Act — a state law that encourages taxpayers to donate to one of 39 organizations supporting young people leaving the child welfare system with a dollar-for-dollar tax credit.
Following the bill’s passage, a nonprofit with the same name was set up by Jackson Healthcare, one of the largest private companies in Georgia, to assist with the management and disbursement of the funds.
While Georgia is one of a few states that has created a special tax incentive for its residents to donate to organizations serving foster youth, it is not the only state investing in the higher education of foster youth.
“education is the most powerful thing that can really transfer, because a lot of my foster brothers, when they turned 18, they signed out of the system and they just go to drugs and gangs and stuff like that.”
— Foster youth and college student Jacob Izzo
At least 37 states offer some sort of tuition assistance. Foster youth in Texas have received free tuition at public colleges and universities since the 1990s. Roughly 3,000 students take advantage of the program each year.
California has designated grants to help young people who grew up in foster care with education-related expenses. And last year, the state went further by promising to cover the cost of attending a University of California, Cal State or California community college for all foster youth.
In Minnesota, Fostering Independence Grants served 492 foster youth attending colleges and universities in the 2022-2023 academic year, granting each student an average of $8,639 paid for housing, tuition and other needs.
In Georgia, the foster care tax credit raised nearly $11.6 million in its initial year.
Heidi Carr, executive director of Fostering Success Act Inc., said the money helped close to 80 foster youth aging out of the system in 2023. In the last two months alone, about 100 youth have reached out to the nonprofit seeking support, she said.
Jackyln Harris, a junior at the Georgia Institute of Technology, uses a $250 monthly stipend she received through the Fostering Success Act tax credit funding to pay for her groceries, textbooks and phone bill.
Her tuition is fully covered by a needs-based scholarship, but the other expenses add up. At times, Harris said, she has felt “panicky” when money gets tight. Without the assistance she would “definitely struggle,’’ she said in a video testimonial on the Fostering Success Act Inc. website.
The 20-year-old biochemistry major lived with relatives and in group homes after entering foster care at the age of 14. Attending college was always the plan, but without support, it wasn’t an easy path, she said.
Harris said the program has done for her what “normal parents would do.”
“They definitely take that stress off my shoulders,” she said in her testimonial. “They are helping and thinking of kids like us that are struggling sometimes with money and that don’t have a support system like other kids do.”
Like Harris, Joshua Cox, a 21-year-old junior at Kennesaw State University, received help from the foster care tax credit through FaithBridge Foster Care. He credits the funding with helping him pay his rent and car insurance, as well as groceries. It also allowed him to spend more time focusing on school, he said.
“So now I’m kind of able to relax, because before I was like picking up all types of little side hustles, like DoorDash here and little odd jobs there, just trying to make some extra money,” Cox said.
Cox’s tuition is paid for through need and merit-based scholarships, and he said he doesn’t plan to apply for the new University System of Georgia tuition assistance. But he understands how much it will help others.
“I think it’s awesome,’’ he said of the collaboration, “because there are a lot of students like me who are in similar situations.”
The university system hopes to ultimately create a $20 million fund by matching the $10 million pledge from Fostering Success Act Inc. with donor dollars. The idea is that the fund will eventually replenish itself and become a permanent program, CEO Bryant said.
The estimated full cost of attendance for in-state students varies throughout the university system. At Georgia Institute of Technology, students currently pay nearly $30,000. Meanwhile, one of the more affordable schools includes Dalton State College, which has a total cost of attendance of around $19,000.
Students will be able to apply for assistance from the new fund this spring as part of the regular financial aid cycle, although emergency needs can be considered prior to that, Bryant said.
To apply, former foster youth will need to be currently enrolled in a school and meeting satisfactory academic progress guidelines. Eligible youth will be able to access the funding until age 26.
There’s no limit on the amount of financial assistance students can receive, as long as it is within the cost of attendance, Bryant added. The goal is to “get them across the graduation stage,” he said.
Correction: This story has been corrected to clarify that FaithBridge Foster Care is not run by Jackson Healthcare.
