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Foster youth continue to lag far behind their peers when it comes to college completion, and college affordability has long been cited as the most common barrier that foster youth face. In recognition of the multitude of disadvantages that these students often confront,  Senator Angelique Ashby championed legislation in 2023 that successfully expanded the Middle Class Scholarship (MCS) for current and former foster youth pursuing a bachelor’s degree at a CSU, UC or California community college.  

This webinar will highlight exciting new findings from a soon to be released report from the Urban Institute, Paying for College as a Student with Foster Care History, which analyzed the usage of this expanded aid across the 2023-24 academic year and shed light on the impact that has been realized as a result of this expansion. In addition, this webinar will reveal new insights from thirteen focus groups with students who were eligible to receive MCS funding to better understand the impact of financial aid in their postsecondary educational journey, from their decision to enroll and their perceptions of affordability to the impact it makes on their current college experience.  

Attendees will hear from JBAY, Senator Ashby, the Urban Institute and a student with lived experience about the realities students with foster care experience face paying for college and recommendations to ensure that all foster youth have a fair shot at pursuing their educational goals.

It is without question that college is unaffordable for many students, particularly those with the least resources. While crucial work is being done to expand the availability of financial aid, a less understood issue is how higher education institutions approach setting cost of attendance (COA) budgets, which impact how much financial aid students can receive.

This webinar will highlight findings from JBAY’s soon to be released, groundbreaking report, College Costs Uncovered: An Examination of the Accuracy of College Cost of Attendance Budgets and Implications for Student Success. JBAY compared COA budgets to regional living expenses and made startling discoveries regarding the accuracy of these budgets. Panelists will include institutional representatives along with the report authors who will share the findings and will provide actionable recommendations on institutional practices and state policies that can ensure COA budgets accurately reflect students’ true college costs and allow them to access critical financial aid that supports their academic success.

Please join John Burton Advocates for Youth (JBAY)  for this “how-to” webinar to assist adult supporters working with California’s foster youth and unaccompanied homeless youth to successfully complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or California Dream Act Application (CADAA). The webinar will review the FAFSA and CADAA, page by page, including detailed instructions on how eligible students can qualify as independent students for the purposes of maximizing financial aid. Presenters will also provide information on key steps to take after the FAFSA or CADAA is completed, such as creating a WebGrants account.

Please join John Burton Advocates for Youth for a web seminar marking the release of a best practices publication guiding local administration of special population Housing Choice Vouchers for former foster youth. This webinar and its accompanying publication aim to equip child welfare agencies, Public Housing Authorities and community partners with best practices to maximize FYI/FUP vouchers. The practices were the basis of, and informed by, a recent community of practice led by JBAY in partnership with the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare, focused on FYI/FUP vouchers. Over the course of the community of practice, the participating 15 counties increased their collective number of vouchers by 81%, with 11 counties now making use of the on-demand request process, up from one county at the start of the community of practice.