[StBernard] Coleman, Landrieu Promote College Opportunity and Adoption of

[Westley Annis]

Coleman, Landrieu Promote College Opportunity and Adoption of Foster
Children Bipartisan measure allows foster children who are adopted to access
to college grants and loans.

 

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate last week passed an amendment by U.S. Senators
Norm Coleman, R-Minn., and Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., that promotes adoption
of foster children by giving them full access to college grants and loans
regardless of their adoptive parents' income. The Coleman-Landrieu amendment
was included in H.R. 2669, the Higher Education Access Act of 2007, which
passed the Senate 78-18 on July 20.

"Education and a loving family are two key components of a child's mental
and emotional development," Sen. Coleman said. "No child should have to
choose between the two. Under current law, adopted teenagers lose out on
some or all college financial aid for which they would otherwise have been
eligible, depending on his or her adopted parents' financial situation.  I
applaud the Senate for passing our amendment to alleviate this discrepancy
and encourage teen and pre-teen adoption."

"It is unacceptable for students to receive less financial aid merely
because they were adopted," Sen. Landrieu said.  "Restricting the financial
aid opportunities of adopted teens unfairly penalizes them simply for
seeking the love and stability that only a family can offer. This amendment
corrects such unwise law by allowing adopted children to receive the
financial help they need to attend college and realize their full
potential."

"Older youth in foster care currently face the painful choice between being
adopted and being able to afford to go to college," said Alicia Groh,
executive director of Voice for Adoption. "Thanks to the leadership of
Senator Coleman and Senator Landrieu, this bill will eliminate this barrier
to adoption, making it possible for children who are waiting to be adopted
to achieve their dream of having a permanent family without sacrificing
their dream of attending college."

The Coleman-Landrieu measure, the Fostering Adoption to Further Student
Achievement Act, expands the definition of "independent student," to include
foster care youth who are adopted after their tenth birthday. A student's
financial aid eligibility will be determined solely by the student's ability
to pay.

Currently, there are 523,000 children in foster care, with about half of
them over the age of 10. Of students who have "aged out" of foster care
without being adopted, studies show that within three years:

*         Only 54 percent had earned their high school diploma

*         Only 14 percent had graduated from a four-year college

*         Between 25-44 percent had experienced homelessness.

But statistics consistently show that students who are adopted out of the
foster system are more likely to attend college, have stable lives and have
a permanent family.

The Higher Education Access Act of 2007, of which the Coleman-Landrieu
amendment is now a part, will increase college access and affordability by
boosting student aid by $17.4 billion. It also increases the maximum annual
Pell Grant, the nation's main aid program for low-income students, from
$4,310 to $5,400 a year by 2011.

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