“Fostering Futures Act” — new bill aims to waive tuition for certain former foster youth
COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — A new bill known as the Fostering Futures Act aims to help former foster youth by removing their biggest financial barrier to earning a degree.
Should it pass, the bill would require all public institutions of higher learning in SC to waive tuition and fees for a specific group of former foster youth.
The idea for the bill (S.824 and H.5008) was proposed last October by members of the foster care support initiative SC First.
The group’s founder, Amanda Moon, says as a former foster youth herself, higher education can feel out of reach.
“As far as I knew there wasn’t anything out there for people like me,” she says.
Were the bill to become law, tuition would be waived at public institutions for young people who have aged out of the foster care system up until their 26th birthday — or until they receive their first bachelor’s degree.
It would also apply to foster youth who are currently in extended foster care, were adopted after the age of 12, or have three or more cumulative years in foster care but don’t meet the other criteria.
“I would like to see the narrative shift about this population. Youth from foster care are just like every other kid that have dreams just like anybody else,” says Moon.
Studies show 85% of foster youth say they want to earn a degree, but only around 3% do so — with a number of foster children becoming homeless or incarcerated after aging out of the system.
“And so instead if we were to front load this investment and waive their tuition, then they would not only cost less in future social services cost but also be tax paying contributing citizens,” she says.
The bill is picking up bipartisan support among lawmakers — with four senators and three representatives serving as its sponsors — including Senator Jeff Zell , who was also a former foster youth.
“It’s so unbelievably important to me and such an emotional thing because I lived through it,” he says.
Senator Mike Reichenbach, Senator Tameika Isaac Devine, Senator Brad Hutto, and Rep. Carla Schuessler, Rep. Beth Bernstein, and Rep. Paula Rawl Calhoon are also sponsors on the bill.
Zell finds that foster kids have a unique and oftentimes traumatic experience, but that their lives could be much easier and less chaotic with support systems like The Fostering Futures Act in place.
“They have so much potential…unbelievable amount of potential…ambition. Bright futures. If we can just get them on an academic path to success, economic path to success, they’re gonna take it,” he says.
