Abstract
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau, the foster care population currently includes nearly 400,000 children (2013). In 2012, in California alone, over 43,000 students in grades K-12 were in foster care. Research has shown students in every type of placement performed far worse than their non-foster care peers. Furthermore, in high school, students in foster care had the highest dropout rates and the lowest graduations than any other students (Wiegmann et.al 2014). This academic achievement gap demonstrates foster youth are at an extreme disadvantage compared to their counterparts who never experience foster care. If foster youth perform behind their peers in primary school, this achievement gap is likely to follow them on their path to higher education. Other researchers have found only 20% of former foster youth who meet college entrance requirements actually go to college (Unrau et al. 2012) and less than six percent of former foster youth have a college education (Fessler 2010). These facts reveal foster care negatively impacts students’ academic performance and their ability to receive higher education. The present study looks at former foster youth who have graduated from high school and have successfully transitioned into higher education. In-depth interviews with ten former foster youth currently enrolled in a California State University were conducted in order to answer the following research question, “How have former foster youth currently enrolled in college been prepared and challenged on their path to higher education?” The interviews were analyzed and coded. Four themes emerged from the data: 1. Choosing to Take the Road towards Higher Education, 2. Educational Resources and Support Networks, 3. Finding Support and Strength, and 4. Personal Motivation and Self-Reliance. Personal backgrounds, religious beliefs, and past experiences from student’s macrosystems and chronosystems motivated them to pursue higher education. Various support networks, financial assistance, and education resources associated with their exosystem helped prepare students for the academic barriers they would encounter on their path to conquering their academic goals. Lastly, assistance and support from family, friends, teachers, and other microsystems as well as their own personal motivation and self-reliance enabled their dreams of going to college to become a reality. Using the Bioecological Systems theory, this research revealed how different ecological systems have both negatively and positively affected interviewees’ abilities to become successful college students.