I mentioned the foster care story in the California Watch earlier today, but there is just so much to the story I didn’t want to leave it at that.
But a surprisingly low number of these students receive all the grants they
Plus, automatic Cal Grants are only for students who apply within a year of graduation – aging out many former foster youth. The study recommends a few important changes: Speed up the timing of the Chafee Grant. Award more grants, factoring in attrition. Rethink the age limits on Cal Grants and Chafee Grants. Guarantee Cal Grants for foster youth.
The need for aid for former foster youth – not to mention all low-income students – will only increase with this year’s fee increases. (California Watch)
There are a number of failures here. A straight-up funding failure on the part of the state. We simply aren’t providing enough resources for the children that are under the care of the state. The governor threatened to completely eliminate CalGrants next year, and he is likely to put pressure on that again this year.
But the most upsetting failure is the lack of intervention in the lives of these children. While the state should be working with them to facilitate the transfer out of foster care and into their own majority, there just aren’t enough resources for the local foster care agencies to provide enough one-on-one support to each of these students.
We owe our foster children more than that. It is a sad statement that once again, Arnold and the Republicans are looking at making life even more difficult for them.
The public sector is run by and for the rich and powerful. Democrat and Republican politicians both serve the interests of the rich and powerful. California has never properly funded programs for foster children because they simply don’t have the political clout that the unions and others do. Your suggestion that government will someday change into a force for the poor is akin to waiting for pigs to turn into fish. A strong private sector is the best escape for foster children and it is the only system that has ever worked. If you want to help the poor and powerless you should reduce the size of government.
Every single time the UCs and CSUs and community colleges have raised “fees” (They can’t charge CA residents “Tuition” as it’s against the CA constitution) they always say “oh but student aid is going up.”
It’s crap. It’s an inefficent system, one riddled with mostly loans, thus ensuring a college graduate leaves school with a ton of debt. Given how we dislike raising incomes in this country, that’s just setting people up to fail unless of course they are wealthy to pay in cash up front.
Also, the maze of aid programs, scholarships and what not are never properly explained, and there are also many scholarships that go unclaimed as they’re severely restricted. I remember back in school when they’d go on and on about the “millions of unclaimed dollars” and then once you looked into it, you’d find that they’d be scholarships like “son or daughter of the best dungeons and dragons player in Placer County” or some other such thing that most people can’t qualify for no matter how bright they are.
And that’s fine, but those kinds of scholarships shouldn’t be represented as part of what’s available to bright people who’d like to continue their education so as to be competitive with the bright people in China and India and Europe. Funny, none of those nations value stupidity like we do, and also don’t admin their higher ed like we do. I guess they want to be competitive or something!
I mistyped a word in my stupid blog comment. D’oh!
A few seem to have found this site lately. Oy.
Read Dickens, Mr. private sector is the only thing that’s ever worked for foster children. The statement is absurd.
What would work, and work really well, would be more aid programs, as noted. California has many out of work nonprofit professionals right now, and always a plethora of out of work arts professionals. They could be staffing programs to equip the foster kids for independence. That’d be a jobs AND aid program, both of which CA needs.
The failure to “solve” the myriad foster care issues when there is basic agreement that we MUST help children of families in crisis truly depresses me.
The SF Chronicle has been loudly and persuasively editorializing for years on the subject. The legislature has several members, including the outgoing Speaker, who are longtime advocates for foster kids. There’s no one publicly arguing that kids who age out of the system don’t deserve ongoing public support, let alone any organized opposition to the concept. Fully funding ~all~ of the reforms and improvements to the system would represent chump change in the state budget. These circumstances are as close to ideal as you’ll find, no?
If we can’t improve this relatively small system with virtual consensus, I despair of ever effectively tackling penal reform or education.