Promoting Persistence: A Longitudinal Study of Education and Training Voucher Impacts Among Georgia Foster Youth

Background and Purpose: Foster youth face profound barriers to postsecondary education success. Only about 1 in 9 foster youth obtain a postsecondary degree, compared to approximately 1 in 3 working-age adults in the general population. Education and Training Vouchers (ETVs) are a key policy support mechanism designed to facilitate higher education success for this vulnerable population. While early associations have linked ETV uptake to factors like gender, race, in-state attendance, and placement stability, broader research linking vouchers to degree completion suffers from generalizability issues and a lack of contextual understanding. The purpose of this study is to examine the longitudinal impact of ETV uptake on higher education persistence and graduation among foster youth in a Southeastern state.

Methods: This study utilized a longitudinal cohort design using linked administrative data from state foster care records, the ETV program, and the National Student Clearinghouse. The overall dataset captured approximately 6,000 youth from 2015 to 2024. To ensure sufficient follow-up time for tracking postsecondary milestones, the analytical sample was restricted to the 2015-2018 cohort (N = 2,304), tracking individuals who persisted for one year and those who completed a degree by age 24. Researchers conducted descriptive and exploratory analyses to establish baseline outcomes. Subsequently, logistic regression models were employed to identify significant predictors for the two higher education outcomes of interest.

Results: Descriptive findings for the 2015-2018 cohort (N = 2,304) revealed concerning baseline outcomes: only 21.27% (n=490) of youth enrolled in higher education, 8.81% (n=203) persisted for one year, and 3.82% (n=88) completed a degree within six years. Among a subsample of enrollees tracked for voucher uptake (N = 487), 46% (n=224) received an ETV by age 24. Observed outcome comparisons showed that ETV recipients had notably higher rates of first-year persistence (49.6% vs. 35.7%) and graduation (20.1% vs. 15.2%) compared to non-recipients. The logistic regression models confirmed these promising impacts; receiving an ETV significantly increased the odds of first-year persistence (OR = 1.83, p = 0.005). The models also indicated that attendance at a public university and placement with kin at age 18 predicted higher odds of persistence and graduation.

Conclusions and Implications: The findings highlight a stark systemic challenge: fewer than 4% of the tracked foster youth completed a postsecondary degree, and there is a massive attrition rate following initial enrollment. However, the study demonstrates that ETVs have promising, statistically significant impacts on keeping youth enrolled through their critical first year. The eventual drop-off before distal graduation outcomes suggests that while financial vouchers are necessary, they are not entirely sufficient on their own. This points to the vital importance of wrap-around campus support programs to address confounding challenges related to student resilience and wellbeing. Future research should employ methods such as structural equation modeling that may be better able to disentangle confounding relationships and should utilize systems-based qualitative methods to explore the lived experiences underlying these educational trajectories.