Do Education and Training Vouchers Make a Difference for Young Adults in Foster Care?

Approximately 20,000 young adults in foster care transition to adulthood and independent living each year. A majority of these young people want to pursue postsecondary education, but they are less likely to enroll in postsecondary institutions than their peers who have not interacted with the child welfare system. To address this gap, federal and state programs have been implemented to address barriers and provide supports to pursue a college degree. In 2001, as an amendment to the Chafee Foster Care Independence Act, the Education and Training Voucher (ETV) program became the first federal program aimed to assist young adults in or formerly in foster care with their postsecondary educational needs. This report uses administrative data from 10 states to describe how ETV programs operate, who receives ETV vouchers, how and when they are used, and the educational outcomes for young adults who receive ETVs compared with their peers who do not receive ETVs.