Each year, approximately 20,000 young adults in foster care transition to independent living. A majority of these young people want to pursue postsecondary education, but they are less likely to enroll in postsecondary institutions than their peers who have not interacted with the child welfare system. To address this gap, federal and state programs have been implemented to address barriers and provide supports to pursue a college degree. In 2001, as an amendment to the Chafee Foster Care Independence Act, the Education and Training Voucher (ETV) program became the first federal program aimed to assist young adults in or formerly in foster care with their postsecondary educational needs.

Purpose

This Florida PESS fact sheet seeks to describe the the annual number and amount of ETV awards, characteristics of Postsecondary Education Services and Support (PESS) program recipients and their chosen schools, and preliminary statistics on postsecondary education participation for Florida’s PESS program. This analysis is descriptive, and statistics presented here should not be interpreted as program impacts. It is part of a broader evaluation of the ETV programs in California, Colorado, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.

Key Findings and Highlights

• In Florida, many young adults eligible for PESS awards do not receive them. Thirty-three percent of all PESS-eligible young people attended college, and of those who attended college, only 61 percent attended with a PESS Award.
• Young people who were identified as Black and young people emancipated from care were more likely to attend college with a PESS award compared with other PESS-eligible young people.
• Compared with PESS-eligible young people who attended college but did not receive a PESS award, young people who received awards were slightly less likely to be enrolled full time but were more likely to enroll in public schools, enroll in four-year schools, and enroll in in-state schools.
• Receiving a PESS award was correlated with better educational outcomes for young adults. Young adults receiving an award were more likely to complete at least two semesters of college (one year) and graduate from college compared with PESS-eligible young adults who did not receive an award.

This fact sheet presents descriptive statistics on the PESS program and young people who participate. The results in this study cannot be interpreted as estimates of the impact of PESS awards on persistence because we cannot control for selection into the PESS program. It is possible that young adults who are more diligent are more likely to enroll in the PESS program and are also more likely to persist and graduate from college.

Methods

Our analysis linked multiple administrative data sources to evaluate ETV program participation and educational outcomes. We matched child welfare administrative data on the foster care histories of all young adults who could be eligible for ETV from 10 states with ETV program data and National Student Clearinghouse data on college enrollment and attainment. Using these data, we describe the annual number and amount of ETV awards in each state, characteristics of that state’s ETV recipients and their chosen schools, and preliminary statistics on young people’s postsecondary education participation.

Recommendations

This work helps shed light on the Education and Training Voucher program and raises considerations for researchers and policymakers as well as states. Preliminary evidence suggests ETVs may increase persistence, but more research is needed to understand ETVs’ impact on outcomes such as college enrollment, persistence, and attainment. A rigorous evaluation of the ETV program is needed to estimate the impact of ETVs on college enrollment, persistence, and attainment.