Fostering Success at SUNY - Financial Support through the Foster Youth College Success Initiative - January 2024

Oct 15, 2026

A policy overview by Brian Backstrom describing how New York State supports foster youth through the Foster Youth College Success Initiative (FYCSI) launched in 2015. The document explains program design, covering tuition and fees, housing during recess, books and supplies, transportation, and academic and qualifying personal expenses. It links the initiative to the ongoing growth in demand and early outcomes, noting higher reenrollment and graduation rates. It also frames the rationale with challenges faced by older foster care youth transitioning to independent living.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages24

Reading Time1 h 0 min

AccessFree to download

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Foster Youth College Success Initiative

Why Focus on Older Foster Care Youth?

Federal Independent Living Program Context

Educational Outcomes and Barriers

Program Funding and Expansion

Fostering Success at SUNY Financial Support through the Foster Youth College Success Initiative Brian Backstrom January 2024 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Brian Backstrom is director of education policy studies at the Rockefeller Institute of Government Fostering Success at SUNY Starting in 2015, New York State began offering college financial assistance to individuals who have experienced foster care at any point after the age of 13. Recognizing the unique needs of this student population and the desire to provide additional support, the Foster Youth College Success Initiative (FYCSI) was created to encourage and ease the financial burden of college-going for foster care youth, providing awards that can be used to cover costs, including tuition and fees, room and board (as well as housing during school recess), books and supplies, transportation to and from campus, academic support services such as advising and tutoring not already covered by the campus, and certain qualifying personal expenses. Demand for FYCSI support continues to grow as more and more students apply for and receive these awards, and early results point to the program’s potential positive impacts: FYCSI recipients tend to reenroll after their first year at higher rates than their peers and post higher graduation rates for associate degrees and, after six years, bachelor’s degrees. Why Focus on Older Foster Care Youth? Youth placed in foster care often have suffered family trauma that typically causes lasting social and emotional effects. In New York, for example, nine out of every 10 children in foster care were removed from their homes because of neglect or abandonment (58 percent), parental drug or alcohol abuse (26 percent), or physical abuse (7 percent) .1 These experiences, plus the disruption of foster care placement itself, cannot only manifest in educational difficulties during a child’s elementary, middle, and high school years, they also make the transition to independent living—which often occurs during one’s college years—particularly challenging. While the public may tend to think of children in need of foster placement as younger aged, in New York, more than one-fourth—28 percent—are 13 years old or older when placed in foster care. And for many, foster care is not a short-term intervention: more than one-fourth (27 percent) of placed children have been in foster care for three years or more.2 Older and longer-term fostered children may experience greater levels of disruption to their lives when the structure of a foster care family is no longer available to them. Most teenage youth have the support of a parent or parents and other family members to help them along while making the transition to adulthood. Many children in foster homes, however, are forced to face a more abrupt transition to adulthood on their own when they “age out” of the care system. In New York, approximately 7,000 youth exit foster care each year, and nearly one-fourth (22 percent) of them do so only because they turn 18 years old and become emancipated.3 Starting in 1986, the federal government recognized the need to assist foster care youth in making the transition out of sponsored care when it amended Title IV-E of the Social Security Act to create the Independent Living Program. Made permanent in 1999 and doubling the funding to $140 million annually,4 the program provides states with funding specifically intended to support foster youth with a variety of services for them to live on their own. In the years since, federal funding for these and related programs has been substantially increased, age eligibility has been expanded, and states have been allowed to use funding for a much broader array of support services.5 Even with these added efforts and investments, however, when it comes to education, the life outcomes for youth who have experienced foster care still reflect a vulnerable population. One prominent and comprehensive study of foster care y

FAQs

What is the Foster Youth College Success Initiative (FYCSI)?

FYCSI is a New York State financial assistance program created to encourage and reduce the cost burden for students who have experienced foster care, helping them attend and complete college.

What costs can FYCSI awards help cover?

Awards can cover tuition and fees, room and board (including housing during school recess), books and supplies, transportation to and from campus, certain academic support services, and qualifying personal expenses.

Why does the document emphasize older foster care youth?

It explains that many older foster youth face lasting social and emotional effects from trauma and abrupt transitions when they “age out,” which makes independent living and college transitions especially challenging.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jordan Avery