Stacy Maciuk, a 24-year-old who went through Tennessee’s foster care system, lobbied the state’s General Assembly as a college student in support of a foster child tuition grant program.

The Nashville resident said her argument to lawmakers was simple: Invest in these youths now or pay for them later to be in prison, on welfare or in other less-than-desirable circumstances.

“I just felt like it was the state’s responsibility to assume responsibility for their kids,” said Ms. Maciuk, who now works in the offices of former Vice President Al Gore and Tipper Gore. “I mean, if we’re legal wards of the state, then the state should be paying for our education like a parent would pay for a child’s education.”

The lottery-funded Tennessee HOPE Foster Child Tuition Grant program, created in 2005, covers any costs of tuition and fees that are not covered by other financial aid resources.

Tim Phelps, associate executive director for grant and scholarship programs with the Tennessee Student Assistance Corp., said 17 students received grant awards totaling $34,604 for the 2006-07 academic year.

While the numbers may seem small, he said, the pool of students who are eligible for the program itself is small.

“It’s just a very specific criteria that not many students fall into,” he said. “I definitely think it’s a worthy program.”

Mr. Phelps said the foster child tuition grant program is not in danger of taking resources from other Tennessee lottery-funded programs, given that there is nearly $400 million in lottery surplus money.

Sen. Jamie Woodson, R-Knoxville, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, sponsored a bill in the Senate this past legislative session that she said would have increased the amount of Tennessee HOPE Foster Child Tuition Grant money awarded.

Now, students eligible for the program must exhaust all loans and federal work-study funds before they can receive any money from the grant program.

Sen. Woodson said the bill she introduced would make it so loans and work study are not considered in determining the amount of the grant.

That would allow students not to be burdened with loan debt when they graduate, she said.

Sen. Woodson’s bill was included in a larger piece of legislation that dealt with changes to the lottery scholarship program and ultimately died. She said she plans to introduce it again next year.

“This is certainly a group of children who have, through a variety of circumstances out of their control, become high-needs children that the state has a responsibility to,” Sen. Woodson said.

Lane Simpson, independent living director for the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, said there is a separate state-funded scholarship approved by the legislature two years ago — one for which Ms. Maciuk also lobbied — that benefits youths who are exiting foster care.

Sixty-one students received that scholarship in 2006-07, he said.

“We’re pleased (with that number), but what we’d like to see is more youth taking advantage of those opportunities,” Mr. Simpson said, adding that there is a small pool of people who apply for that scholarship.

Ms. Maciuk, who received a bachelor’s degree in social work from Belmont University and a master’s degree from the University of Tennessee, said it is important that foster youths know that they must fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, the form that alerts the state if they are eligible for the HOPE Foster Child Tuition Grant and the state scholarship program.

“It’s just so important that we give (foster) youth all the tools they need to succeed,” she said.

E-mail Angie Herrington at aherrington@timesfreepress.com

GRANT REQUIREMENTS
The receipt of a Tennessee HOPE Foster Child Tuition Grant is contingent upon the following:

* The student must be a recipient of either the Tennessee HOPE scholarship or Tennessee HOPE Access grant and be admitted to an eligible postsecondary institution.

* A foster child is defined as one who was in the custody of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services either: For at least one year after reaching age 14; for at least one year after reaching age 14 and placed for adoption by the Department of Children’s Services or one of its adoption contract agencies and the adoption was finalized, or; for at least one year and placed in permanent guardianship by the Department of Children’s Services after reaching age 14.

Source

This entry was posted by Taman Siswa on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 at 10:14 pm and is filed under College Loans, Education News, Student Loan. Tags: College, Education News, Financial Aid, Grant, Loans, Scholarship, Student, Study, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.