The Urban Institute evaluated the Education and Training Voucher (ETV) program. The ETV program provides up to $5,000 per year to young people with foster care experience to help them pay for postsecondary education or training. The evaluation used quantitative and qualitative data, including child welfare administrative data, interviews with staff members and participants, and data from the National Postsecondary Aid Survey (NPSAS).

We examined what share of young people with a foster care history enroll in postsecondary education, what percentage of eligible young people are awarded ETVs, and how ETV use correlated with persistence and graduation. Interviews with staff and young people informed us of how and what could be improved. Finally, the NPSAS data allowed us to estimate the unmet financial need of young people attending postsecondary education. Our findings include the following:

Enrollment, Cost of Attendance, and Unmet Need

• Young people with foster care experience after age 16 have very low postsecondary enrollment rates. Across the ten states in our study, we found that only about 29 percent enroll in a postsecondary institution. This varied from 15 percent in Tennessee to 39 percent in Oregon.
• When students with foster care history enroll, they choose the least expensive options by mostly attending public two-year institutions and attending part time.
• Despite choosing less expensive schools, the cost of attendance for young people with foster care history may still be higher than that of their peers, as they often do not have the option of living with their parents while they attend school.
• Students with foster care history have more when compared with students with low incomes and no foster care history. Even at the lowest-cost institutions, the net price for young people with foster care history is more than 100 percent of their income.

ETV Use and Persistence

• Of those eligible for ETV and enrolled in college, we found that relatively few young people (37 percent) were awarded or used the voucher.
• Some aspects of young people’s child welfare history correlated with higher college enrollment and ETV use. Young people who exited care before their 18th birthday were less likely to enroll in college and less likely to be awarded or use an ETV. Only 16 percent of those who exited care at 16 and enrolled in college received an ETV compared with 39 percent of those who exited care on or after their 18th birthday and enrolled in college.
• Graduation rates for young adults with foster care experience were very low. Among those who enrolled, only 11 percent graduated from any postsecondary institution by age 24.
• Receiving an ETV was correlated with better educational outcomes for young adults. Among those who first enrolled in college by age 21 without an ETV, only 9 percent had graduated by age 24. However, young adults who received an ETV had much higher graduation rates at 17 percent overall.

Youth Insights

• Overwhelmingly, students participating in the ETV program said the financial assistance the ETV provided was helpful and having these extra funds relieved a substantial amount of stress in working out how to pay for college and living expenses while in school.
• Students participating in ETV learned about ETVs from different adults in their lives and at varying times. While some became aware of the program during high school, a significant number learned about it when they entered college.
• Some students participating in the ETV program experienced challenges applying for and receiving funds, including burdensome application and documentation requirements, lack of responsiveness from college or state staff, or major delays in receiving their funding.

These findings demonstrate the need for financial assistance for young people with foster care experience to help them enroll and persist in college. The ETV program shows promise as a program that may increase the persistence and graduation rates of students with foster care experience.

However, our research suggests four main recommendations for improving and expanding the ETV program:

1. Increase the voucher amount, as the maximum amount allowed has not increased since the program’s inception in 2001.
2. Increase the program’s overall funding, which has also remained fairly constant since the program’s inception.
3. Increase early ETV outreach to all eligible young adults.
4. Reduce administrative barriers to ETV use.