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College Pathways
The Stuart Foundation supported the launch of the first college campus support program for foster youth (Guardian Scholar) program at Cal State Fullerton in 1999. Over the past ten years we have provided key resources and leadership to campuses and community organizations to support former foster youth to succeed at community colleges, vocational schools, and public and private four-year universities in California and Washington.
As interest, funding partners, and the success of the pioneer campuses grew, campus support programs for foster youth have been replicated on 30 campuses in California and Washington with the support of the College Pathways initiative. Our support for three national convenings has also helped spur the replication of campus support programs for foster youth across the nation.
Programs like Guardian Scholars and Renaissance Scholars help give California’s foster youth vital support to finish school. Students who might otherwise find themselves homeless and hopeless instead become college graduates. With a 73% success rate, these programs are clearly best practices that need to be encouraged, supported and replicated!
Honorable Karen Bass, Speaker of the California State Assembly
Strategies
- Provide technical assistance and training to support existing and emerging programs, including a targeted effort to increase supports for foster youth at community colleges.
- Develop politically feasible policy solutions to increase post-secondary enrollment and completion.
- Create a diverse coalition to advocate for policy changes that will promote academic achievement among foster youth.
- Promote and support data collection and self-evaluation for continued improvement and assessment of the efficacy of the initiative.
- Develop powerful partnerships to ensure that transfers between two and four year campuses will be seamless and to promote peer learning between California and Washington campuses.
Impact
Since its inception a decade ago, 130 students have participated in Fullerton’s Guardian Scholars.
- 72% have been retained, meaning they have either continued to pursue a college degree or have graduated.
- 38.5% have earned their four-year degree (50 students).
- This rate of college degree attainment exceeds that of the United States general adult population (28.7%), and far exceeds the rate of degree attainment for former foster youth, estimated to be less than 5% nationally.
Other success stories:
- California State Polytechnic University, Pomona has graduated 17 students
- University of California, Santa Cruz has graduated 40 students
- In Washington, 17 students have graduated from a variety schools.