KINKADE FAITH SCHOLARSHIP
The Kinkade FAITH Scholarships will help Mississippi youth in foster care achieve their dreams. For young Mississippians who have been in foster care, college is now more affordable.
State lawmakers have earmarked $1 million for scholarships to cover tuition, fees and room and board for students currently or formerly in foster care. The law will take effect in July 2022. Awards will begin in academic year 2023-2024.
“It opens the door for a lot more foster kids to feel like they can actually go to college and complete it,” Scentrellis Dixon, a Mississippi Youth Voice board member and Jim Casey Fellow, told the Associated Press.
Young leaders from the board used their foster care experience to advocate for resources for their peers. By sharing their college aspirations and describing obstacles they have faced, they won support among higher education and child welfare officials — and state legislators.
Their concerns about housing also shaped the law establishing the State Rep. Bill Kinkade Fostering Access and Inspiring True Hope (FAITH) Scholarship Program. Named for its primary author, who lived in a group home as a child, the Kinkade law will help students get apartments.
EASING THE COLLEGE BOUND CHALLENGE
Living on their own after foster care but too young to sign leases and contracts, many students have endured housing instability or homelessness while in school.
“Mississippi’s legal age of majority is 21, but most of the state’s young people age out of foster care at 18, so without co-signers or family to help with rental agreements, former foster care youth are vulnerable to exploitation and living conditions that disrupt learning,” said Samantha Kalahar, Mississippi site director for First Place for Youth, a site partner of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative®.
Two solutions are provided in the foster care scholarship law:
- The scholarships pay for on-campus lodging during school breaks and holidays. On campuses that offer such housing, this would eliminate the students’ scramble to find safe temporary housing several times a year.
- Young people who were in foster care may legally sign rental and utility contracts before they turn 21. Property owners will be able to verify a renter’s eligibility through the state’s Department of Child Protective Services.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
Students who are ages 18 to 21 and who were in the state’s care on or after their 13th birthday may apply. They may be in foster care now or may have aged out of the system. They may be adoptees or may have returned home to their families. By maintaining good grades, they will be eligible to apply for aid for up to five years as long as they begin by age 25. The financial aid is for students attending Mississippi’s public and private nonprofit colleges, including community colleges.