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Editorial: Expand college money for foster kids

 
Published Feb. 10, 2016

Foster children in Florida deserve all the help they can get as they pursue higher education. The state already pays for undergraduate study at colleges and universities for wards of the state. Lawmakers should go a step farther and pick up the tab for graduate school. There is no better investment than preparing a young person to be a productive citizen with an education.

Sponsored by Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Sarasota, SB 216 would exempt foster children from tuition and fees associated with workforce education programs, Florida college system institutions and state universities. The bill also would require colleges and universities to adopt rules that prohibit restrictions on the number of credit hours a person may receive, allow eligible students to enroll in remedial or college preparatory classes, and eliminate restrictions on the types of courses students may take and the number of times they may enroll in the same course. Separately, the bill would require postsecondary schools to prominently advertise the waiver program on their websites and to contact and provide advice to students who may be eligible.

Florida's tuition and fee exemption program for foster children has been tweaked many times since the 1980s. But over the years, shifting regulations in the program have made it unclear about the inclusion of graduate studies. State law allows foster children to attend school for free until age 28. Some foster children interpret the age limit as the terminal point of the program. But the Board of Governors has restricted the tuition and fee waiver programs to undergraduate degrees, a limit some students say is unfair. While the Legislature considers the graduate tuition proposal, the Board of Governors has instructed universities to stand down on prohibiting payment for graduate studies.

In the 2014-15 school year, 209 foster children utilized the state's tuition and fee exemption program at a cost of $1.05 million. That number could grow if legislators approve SB 216 or HB 809. It would be money well spent and a small price to pay to help deserving students on the road to self-sufficiency.