By Gongwer Staff
Posted: April 2, 2023 9:34 PM

House lawmakers have been asked to provide tuition waivers and pay other fees associated with higher education for Ohioans who have been in foster care.

A coalition led by the Children's Defense Fund-Ohio has suggested amending the state operating budget (HB 33) to achieve that goal.

"Imagine how much Ohio could benefit from helping more students in our state access opportunities to obtain the skills necessary for the 21st century workforce given the growth and partnership with new businesses that have come to Ohio over the past several years," CDF-Ohio interim Director Kim Eckhart said.

Ms. Eckhart said about 25,000 children are in the foster care system at some point annually, with about 15,000 in the system at any given time.

She said while about 1,000 emancipate based on their age per year, she estimates the total number of students who could benefit from the scholarship proposal would be closer to 2,500 annually. CDF-Ohio estimates the cost of such an initiative at about $7.5 million per year.

The amendment is being pursued by Rep. Dontavius Jarrells (D-Columbus), the ranking minority member of the House Finance Subcommittee on Higher Education, who is also crafting standalone legislation to the same effect.

Rep. Jarrells said policymakers should be "thinking holistically about what we can do beyond just this General Assembly to ensure that we are supporting…Ohioans leaving the foster care system."

Among the witnesses who testified in favor of the budget amendment before the subcommittee was Kurt Holden, director of public safety and police chief at Wright State University.

Mr. Holden, who was in foster care for nearly his entire childhood, said he initially flunked out of college because he was working multiple jobs to afford tuition and fees. He said he later returned to school and "with some luck and by the grace of God" joined the 2-3% of former foster youths who have a degree.

"With your help we can make college more obtainable, accessible – and success more realistic – by removing the luck and making it a more realistic option, and more achievable than 2-3%," he said.

Ms. Eckhart said Ohio would be far from the first state to cover scholarships and fees for those previously in foster care, noting the state of Connecticut paid for her mother's higher education via a similar program decades ago.

She said Texas has had a similar tuition waiver program in place since 2015. An analysis of that initiative showed students who took part were 3.5-times more likely to graduate with a postsecondary degree than their peers.

Subcommittee Chair Rep. Gayle Manning (R-N. Ridgeville) called the testimony of witnesses who participated in the foster care system in various ways "a great way to sell that this amendment is really important."