(Press-News.org) The college graduation rate for students who have lived in foster care is 3 percent, among the lowest of any demographic group in the country. And this rate is unlikely to improve unless community colleges institute formal programs to assist foster youth both financially and academically, concludes a new study by researchers at University of the Pacific.
The findings will be presented during the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in Chicago on Sunday, April 19.
"Informal programs are less likely to work since foster youth lack guidance and have learned to rely on structured institutional programs," said study co-author Melinda Westland, a graduate student at University of the Pacific's Gladys L. Benerd School of Education.
"Simply having a dedicated person whom foster youth can go to and ask questions -- something many of these young people have never had -- could really make a difference to their college success," she added.
To better understand the challenges facing former foster kids in college, Westland and co-researcher Ronald Hallett, an associate professor of education at University of the Pacific, examined the experiences of seven foster youth over a two-and-a-half semester journey through a California community college.
California has the nation's largest population of children in foster care: more than 55,000. The number is about half what it was in 2000, meaning that thousands of former California foster youth are now college-age. Nationally, an estimated 419,000 children and youth are in foster care.
The study is among the few to focus on the experience of foster youth in college. This population is hard to identify because the students, fearing social stigma, rarely disclose their foster-care history on campus.
Three factors stood out during the study: Because their foster families had not owned or provided access to computers, most of the foster youth had only basic or even non-existent computer skills when they entered college.
Money was a problem. While most college students get at least some financial support from their families -- studies show parents provide an average of $2,200 a year to children up to age 34 -- foster youth often have no outside financial help.
And although the foster youth saw earning a four-year degree as a pathway to future stability, they were confused about the process of transferring from a community college.
The University of the Pacific researchers concluded that foster youth who enroll in community college need additional financial support, structured campus programming, and psychosocial support.
Students in the study who became aware of campus resources, such as a tutoring center, took advantage of those resources and did better in their classes.
"A structured support program could help foster youth find and use resources already available to students," Hallett said. "That alone could make a significant difference."
A student identified as Amanda summed up the views of most participants in the study: "I wish I had someone who cared about my future as much as I did, so they could help me along that path."
INFORMATION:
About University of the Pacific
Established in 1851 as the first chartered institution of higher education in California, University of the Pacific prepares students for professional and personal success through rigorous academics, small classes, and a supportive and engaging culture. Widely recognized as one of the most beautiful private university campuses in the West, the Stockton campus offers more than 80 majors in seven schools. The university's distinctive Northern California footprint also includes a campus in San Francisco, home to the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry and new graduate programs in health, food and technology fields, and in Sacramento, home to the Pacific McGeorge School of Law and planned graduate programs in public policy, health and business. For more information, visit http://www.pacific.edu.
PHILADELPHIA-- Once again, researchers at Penn's Abramson Cancer Center have extended the reach of the immune system in the fight against metastatic melanoma, this time by combining the checkpoint inhibitor tremelimumab with an anti-CD40 monoclonal antibody drug. The first-of-its-kind study found the dual treatments to be safe and elicit a clinical response in patients, according to new results from a phase I trial to be presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2015 on Sunday, April 19.
Researchers include first author David L. Bajor, MD, instructor of Medicine in the division ...
PHILADELPHIA -- Women diagnosed with breast cancer are often told not to eat soyfoods or soy-based supplements because they can interfere with anti-estrogen treatment. But new research being presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2015 could eventually impact that advice, because in animals, a long history of eating soyfoods boosts the immune response against breast tumors, reducing cancer recurrence.
The study, conducted at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, could offer good news to some women whose diet has long ...
PHILADELPHIA, April 19, 2015 - Broccoli sprout extract protects against oral cancer in mice and proved tolerable in a small group of healthy human volunteers, the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), partner with UPMC CancerCenter, announced today at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.
The promising results will be further explored in a human clinical trial, which will recruit participants at high risk for head and neck cancer recurrence later this year. This research is funded through Pitt's Specialized Program ...
PHILADEPHIA, April 19, 2015 - Identifying molecular changes that occur in tissue after chemotherapy could be crucial in advancing treatments for ovarian cancer, according to research from Magee-Womens Research Institute and Foundation (MWRIF) and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), partner with UPMC CancerCenter, presented today at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2015.
For years now, intraperitoneal chemotherapy, a treatment which involves filling the abdominal cavity with chemotherapy drugs after surgery, has been ...
PHILADELPHIA -Genetically modified versions of patients' own immune cells successfully traveled to tumors they were designed to attack in an early-stage trial for mesothelioma and pancreatic and ovarian cancers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The data adds to a growing body of research showing the promise of CAR T cell technology. The interim results will be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2015, April 18-22.
"The goal of this phase I trial was to study the safety and feasibility of ...
Using mobile apps in preschool classrooms may help improve early literacy skills and boost school readiness for low-income children, according to research by NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
"Guided use of an educational app may be a source of motivation and engagement for children in their early years," said Susan B. Neuman, professor of childhood and literacy education at NYU Steinhardt and the study's author. "The purpose of our study was to examine if a motivating app could accelerate children's learning, which it did."
Neuman ...
Schools must track the academic progress of homeless students with as much care as they track special education, Title I and English language learner students, according to researchers at University of the Pacific.
"In an age of accountability, schools focus their efforts and attention on the students they are mandated to report on," said Ronald Hallett, associate professor of education and lead author of the study. "We need to realign our policies and procedures if we are going to improve academic outcomes for homeless and highly mobile students."
Hallett and his colleagues ...
Meaningful college experiences, including internships and studying abroad, may not matter as much as your major and what school you attend when it comes to job satisfaction and earnings, according to research by NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
"Our study adds important nuance to our understanding of the influence specific college experiences have on economic and attitudinal job outcomes in the years following college graduation," said Gregory Wolniak, director of the Center for Research on Higher Education Outcomes at NYU Steinhardt ...
PHILADELPHIA --Poorer outcomes for African-American women with estrogen-receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer, compared with European-American patients, appears to be due, in part, to a strong survival mechanism within the cancer cells, according to a study being presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2015.
Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center investigators report that breast tumors from African-American patients show reduced sensitivity to tamoxifen, a leading treatment for ER+ breast cancer, caused by increased activation ...
Chapel Hill, N.C., April 17, 2015 - Achelios Therapeutics will announce results from a Phase IIa placebo-controlled clinical trial in moderate and severe migraine sufferers treated with TOPOFEN (TM), the company's proprietary topical anti-migraine therapy. The data to be presented demonstrate that the simple application of a well-known non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), using the company's proprietary formulation on the skin, over the trigeminal nerve branches, can be a safe and effective alternative treatment for patients suffering from acute migraine.
William ...
