99. Improve education outcomes for unhoused students, foster youth, and opportunity youth.

Partnerships and P-12 Education Systems 09.6.24

Here’s what the federal government can do:

  • Congress should invest in programs that establish or expand initiatives that support unhoused students, foster youth, and opportunity youth[i] in enrolling and graduating from postsecondary education.
  • Congress should invest in programs that identify opportunity youth as well as unhoused students in the P-12 system and support their college readiness.
  • The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Transportation should partner to:
    • Collect, conduct, and disseminate research on access to reliable transportation for unhoused students and foster youth.
    • Collect, conduct, and disseminate research on the impact of transportation services on student outcomes, particularly for unhoused students and foster youth.
  • Congress should require institutions of higher education to post information on their websites about institutional liaisons responsible for supporting unhoused and foster youth.

Here’s what state government can do:

  • State legislatures should ensure that all districts across their state transfer the credits and graduation requirements of unhoused students and foster youth.
  • State legislatures should require counselors who serve unhoused and foster youth to participate in professional development to support their academic outcomes.
  • State legislatures should ensure that unhoused and foster youth are eligible for state financial aid and in-state tuition rates.
  • State legislatures should require higher education institutions to include voluntary questions in their admissions applications about students’ status as unhoused and/or foster youth to contribute to a holistic understanding of a student’s educational pathway and offer relevant supports.

Here’s what institutional leaders can do:

  • P-12 systems and higher education institutions should recruit and retain unhoused students and foster youth in TRIO and GEAR UP college access programs
  • P-12 systems should provide targeted FAFSA support to students who are unhoused or in foster care.
  • P-12 systems should work closely with community organizations serving unhoused and foster youth to support transitions into higher education.

Access to safe, reliable, and stable home and learning environments is essential for the well-being and academic success of all students, including foster youth and unhoused students. All children and students — including the 1.2 million unhoused students in P-12 public schools,[ii] the majority of whom are between the grade levels of kindergarten to fourth grade — deserve to be liberated from the constant fear of whether they will have a safe place to sleep at night.[iii] Following a 2016 GAO report, the Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services made a number of resources available to support the transition into higher education for foster and unhoused youth, including the Foster Care Transition Toolkit.[iv]

Ongoing barriers continue to limit access to financial aid for students who are unhoused.[v]

Identifying and providing support services long before postsecondary education is critical to supporting the dreams of unhoused students and foster youth.

84 percent
of foster youth say they would like to graduate from college.		 50 percent
of foster youth graduate from high school.
Less than 9 percent will attain a bachelor’s degree.

Source: Improving Education Outcomes for Foster Youth, American Bar Association.[vi]

[i]Opportunity youth refer to young people who are between the ages of 16 and 24 years old and who are disconnected from school and work.

[ii]“Student Homelessness in America: School Years 2017-18 to 2019-20,” National Center for Homeless Education. https://nche.ed.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Student-Homelessness-in-America-2021.pdf.

[iii]The United States total includes Bureau of Indian Education, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Source: U.S. Department of Education, EDFacts file specification 118 (2019, 2020, 2021), SEA level.

[iv]“Foster Care Transition Toolkit”. U.S. Department of Education. May 26, 2016. https://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/foster-care/youth-transition-toolkit.pdf.

[v] “Youth Homelessness and Higher Education: An Analysis of FAFSA Data.” SchoolHouse Connection. May 2018. https://schoolhouseconnection.org/wp-content/uploads/imported-files/An-Analysis-of-FAFSA-Data.pdf

[vi]Pawlowski, Alanna. “Improving Education Outcomes for Foster Youth,” American Bar Association, April 1, 2014. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_interest/child_law/resources/child_law_practiceonline/child_law_practice/vol-33/april-2014/improving-education-outcomes-for-foster-youth/.