On average, a college degree improves a person’s employment prospects, career earnings, and lifetime financial stability (PDF). But not everyone has an equal opportunity to secure a degree. Young people with foster care experience are less likely to enroll in and graduate from college than their counterparts. One key reason is they often can’t afford it; most can’t rely on their families for financial support, and many must work while enrolled to make ends meet (PDF).

The Chafee Education and Training Voucher (ETV) program provides up to $5,000 per year to students who have foster care experience to help pay for postsecondary education. Participating in the ETV program is correlated with higher rates of enrolling in four-year schools, staying enrolled, and graduating from college.

But the amount of the voucher hasn’t kept pace with the cost of attending college.

And the amount appropriated for the ETV program each year is insufficient to fund all eligible students. As a result, many states don’t conduct extensive outreach to inform young people about the ETV program’s availability. And some states’ application and distribution processes create barriers to young people's eligibility and access.

We recently explored how ETV programs operate, the educational outcomes for young adults who receive ETVs, and whether young people with foster care history are getting the financial support they need for college. We also spoke to 81 young people with foster care history who received ETVs about their experiences.

1. Increase the ETV voucher amount.

The maximum funding amount for ETV per student per year was $5,000 in 2001. More than 20 years later, it remains the same. If the ETV award maximum had kept pace with the average cost of attendance, it would be more than double, at $10,454 today. Federal policymakers can consider increasing the amount through amending the Chafee Foster Care Independence Act.

2. Increase overall ETV program funding.

Legislation authorizes Congress to appropriate up to $60 million each year for ETVs, but the annual ETV program appropriation has lingered around $43–$45 million (PDF); it was $44 million in 2023 (PDF). As a result, some states have restricted eligibility so they don’t have to turn eligible young people away. And some reduce the award amount to below $5,000 to give at least some funds to more students.

In the Family First Prevention Services Act, federal ETV eligibility changed to include those in care at age 14, rather than 16, and to allow young adults to receive funding until age 27 instead of age 23. But the funding level didn’t change, so some states didn’t adopt this eligibility change because they didn’t have the funding to serve these additional youth.

Extending the age to cover students who enroll at 21 or later is especially important for students with foster care history because almost half of students with foster care history are enrolled at age 21 or later and most attend part time, requiring more time to finish. But the funding level didn’t change, so many states didn’t adopt this age eligibility.

“When you get out of foster care, you’re thrown into the world.… When you get to that age of being stable enough to go to college, I feel like you don’t have enough time to be qualified for the grants to do what you want to do and figure out who you want to be and what next roles in life you want to choose, so the extension [of eligibility to an older age] would be helpful.”

—ETV recipient

Increasing overall funding for the ETV program could help resolve some of these barriers.

3. Increase early ETV outreach to all eligible young adults.

In a study of 10 states’ ETV programs, we found only 30 percent of students enrolled in college with a foster care history were receiving an ETV. This may be because they aren’t aware of it. Knowing there’s guaranteed funding available will likely lead to more young people in foster care planning to attend college, as guaranteed funding for postsecondary education has been shown to increase the probability of enrollment.

“I think if they started teaching people at a younger age and just making them aware of all the programs that they can be a part of are and the resources they can get, it would help them in the future. Instead of people like me,… who didn’t learn until later on or didn’t know to take advantage of the resources that are literally right there for foster kids to be able to use.”

—ETV recipient

States can communicate the program to youth when they become eligible (using the federal definition this would be either when they turn 14 if they’re already in care or when they enter care after age 14). This will allow them time to plan for college. In addition, it will ensure all eligible youth have heard of the program, including young people who may not be in contact with child welfare at the time they decide to go to college. They should also be reminded of the opportunity as they get older.

4. Reduce administrative barriers to ETV use.

To reduce application burden, state child welfare agencies could partner with their state’s higher education administration to use administrative data matches in addition to applications to verify ETV eligibility.

Meanwhile, allowing more flexibility for fund use would ensure students can use ETVs more effectively. States that don’t already allow this flexibility could consider allowing students to use funds to pay for housing, books, transportation, supplies, a computer, child care, and other costs necessary to attend school. As one student explained:

“If I know that I’ve covered the bills that I needed to cover,… then whatever’s left, I’ll just put it in the savings account and use it for when I need it again. Last year,… I used it because my car broke down.… I used it to help get a temporary car that I have right now.”

—ETV recipient

Lastly, states can consider sending ETV funds directly to students, rather than routing it through their schools, which can sometimes take months to reach the student.

Evidence shows ETVs can help youth with foster care experience enroll and graduate from college. But without additional funding and policies that break down barriers to access, the program can’t realize its full potential.