Donors to Seattle University’s Fostering Scholars program help cover educational, living expenses
SEATTLEBy Jean Parietti
Karla Garcia will soon receive her master’s degree in social work, a rare achievement for someone who spent years in the foster care system.
“It wouldn’t have been possible without Fostering Scholars,” Garcia said of the Seattle University program that provided a scholarship, housing, meals and a supportive community while she earned her bachelor’s degree. Fostering Scholars (www.seattleu.edu/fosteringscholars), established in 2006, aims to help current and former foster youth achieve their goal of a college education.
“It took so much of a burden off me, just not having to worry about two years of college funds or where I was going to live,” said Garcia, who entered foster care when she was 14. She also felt the support of the other students in the program. “It was just sort of the unspoken thing – we went through some sort of hell and we didn’t need to talk about it,” Garcia said. “That alone is hard to find and it’s hard to just be accepted because of everything you’ve gone through.”
Just as important to her success, the 27-year-old said, are her faith and the support provided by former pastor Father Scott Connolly and parishioners at her former parish, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta in Woodinville, who helped with tuition and housing during her community college years.
“What’s stayed with me is faith and Father Scott is the person who has kept that in me,” Garcia said. “I think without it I probably would not be here.”
Closing the gapAlthough a 2005 report on Northwest foster care “alumni” showed that just 2-3 percent of them earned a bachelor’s or advanced degree, “70 percent of foster youth indicate a strong desire to go to college,” said Colleen Montoya Barbano, director of the Fostering Scholars program. “Clearly there’s a gap.”
When foster youth “age out” of the system at age 18 or 21, they may not have anywhere to live or the financial means to continue their education. So Seattle University offers a comprehensive package that includes health insurance and year-round housing. “For these students, housing can be a very loaded issue,” Montoya Barbano said, so stable housing is “a pretty important piece of their success.”
Each year, the program awards four to seven scholarships. Students typically qualify first for need-based aid, grants and other scholarships “and then we fill the gap” – typically about $28,000 per student, funded by donations, Montoya Barbano said.
“They’re an extraordinary group of students,” she said. “They’ve lived a lot of life before they get here.”
Parish supportBefore she got to Seattle University, Garcia had to overcome a bad experience with a foster family and struggle with working three jobs while attending community college in Burlington. “Things got tough and I was thinking of moving back with my biological family and (Father Connolly) told me that wasn’t a good idea,” Garcia said.
Garcia had become very involved in the new parish of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta in Woodinville, where Father Connolly (who was her pastor at St. Rose de Viterbo in Longview) was pastor. When parishioners learned about her struggles, they stepped up to help. “Because they witnessed her involvement and dedication, they wanted to help in whatever way they could,” said Father Connolly, now pastor at Church of the Assumption in Bellingham.
“The next thing I knew, this family offered to pay for the rest of my community college and another family offered me their home rent-free,” Garcia said.
She went on to Seattle University, became a foster scholar and graduated in 2009. The program’s support made it possible to pursue her master’s degree at the University of Washington, Garcia said. After graduating in June, “I would love to be working with victims and survivors of abuse,” she said.
Being an allyFor current foster scholar Ray Powers, school was always a welcome refuge from his home life. By age 16, though, he found himself not only going to school but also taking care of his aunt and grandmother. “I’m living like I’m 40 years old or something, taking care of elders and still doing chores and working at a local business,” Powers recalled.
He just wanted to be a kid again, far away from the city. So he was placed with a “really nice” foster family in Selah. After being raised “I was able, for the first time ever, have a guy tell me what’s going on in life,” Power said. His foster dad got him involved with the Independent Living Skills program offered by Catholic Family & Child Service in neighboring Yakima.
It was on an ILS-sponsored college tour that Powers discovered Seattle University and the Fostering Scholars program. He calls it “another just awesome moment of just perfect timing.” Now 23, he will graduate in June with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a minor in Japanese. He hopes to become a mentor for other foster scholars that choose technical fields of study.
Though the Fostering Scholars program, Powers experienced a supportive community of fellow scholars, donors and others involved in the program. “They’re not just nameless money donors, they’re people who are willing to help, who understand what you’re going through,” he said.
“When you work with Fostering Scholars, you’re really committing to be an ally,” Powers said. “It’s nice to see your donation actually make a difference – to see students graduate because it was your help that made it happen.”
Fostering Scholars by the numbers
20 graduates as of June 201390 percent retention rate$28,000 average cost per student 100 percent of grads employed or pursuing graduate degreeswww.seattleu.edu/fosteringscholars
May 9, 2013