{"id":12759,"date":"2023-09-25T18:54:08","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T18:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/?p=12759"},"modified":"2023-12-05T20:58:29","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T20:58:29","slug":"a-place-to-thrive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/2023\/09\/25\/a-place-to-thrive\/","title":{"rendered":"A place to thrive"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<strong>Madelyne
Madelyne Yang \u201926<\/strong> (Photo by Courtney Perry)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For most of her life, Madelyne Yang \u201926<\/strong> thought she\u2019d never go to college.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring my senior year of high school, I was like, \u2018I don\u2019t want to go. I\u2019m not going to be able to afford it. My situation is horrible.\u2019 Going to college was honestly not a thought in my head,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Then, a teacher told her about Minnesota\u2019s new Fostering Independence Grant. As a student with a foster care background in Minnesota, Yang would qualify for a grant to cover the full cost of her college attendance.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first, I was like, \u2018That must be fake. No way,\u2019\u201d Yang said.<\/p>\n

But once she learned more about the program, she decided to go for it.<\/p>\n

Yang applied to Augsburg University and two other Minnesota colleges\u2014but because she\u2019d grown up in the Twin Cities, Augsburg was her first choice.<\/p>\n

When Yang arrived at Augsburg in Fall 2022, she found a full support system waiting for her. It was the first semester the university offered Augsburg Family Scholars, a new program that aims to narrow the opportunity gap for students with foster care backgrounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cAugsburg Family Scholars has been awesome. I haven\u2019t heard of another university doing this,\u201d Yang said. \u201cI didn\u2019t expect it, honestly, but it\u2019s been a big help.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Augsburg Family Scholars Executive Director Tim Pippert<\/strong>, Augsburg is the only university in Minnesota and one of only a few in the Midwest with a program specifically designed to support students who\u2019ve experienced foster care.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the only institution doing anything like this,\u201d said Pippert, who is also Augsburg\u2019s Joel Torstenson Endowed Professor of Sociology. \u201cIf being in foster care was a significant part of your past and that\u2019s an important aspect of who you are, then Augsburg Family Scholars is absolutely something you could be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

An accelerated start<\/h2>\n

Pippert led the creation of Family Scholars as a response to some of his experiences teaching sociology at Augsburg.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a family sociologist, I got tired of being the professor who talked about how our foster care systems really just set up youth for failure,\u201d he said. \u201cI love teaching, and I still want to do that, but I was also thinking about ways in which I could do something more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sociology
Sociology Professor Tim Pippert, <\/strong>Augsburg Family Scholars executive director (Photo by Courtney Perry)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then, in May 2021, Pippert began a yearlong fellowship with the Lutheran Education Conference in North America, which required him to complete a leadership project. He chose to develop a program to support students from foster care.<\/p>\n

At the time, Pippert didn\u2019t know that the state of Minnesota had its Fostering Independence Grant in the works. \u201cI had started developing what I thought would be a proposal to launch something in a couple of years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But after Minnesota legislation to establish the state grant passed in the summer of 2021, Pippert quickly accelerated his plans for Augsburg\u2019s program. By Fall 2022, Family Scholars was ready and began serving 15 students.<\/p>\n

The state legislation not only sped up Pippert\u2019s timeline for the Augsburg program\u2014it also changed the way he shaped the program to most effectively support students.<\/p>\n

\u201cOriginally, I thought I was going to have to fundraise to help pay the tuition for fosters,\u201d Pippert said. With the Fostering Independence Grant, the need to cover tuition immediately went off the table, so Pippert focused on efforts to enhance the student experience and retention.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust having the state pay your way isn\u2019t enough,\u201d he said. \u201cHaving the financial resources, they\u2019re amazing. It is a really good state grant. But it\u2019s not enough on its own, and there\u2019s way more to college success than paying for college.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to financial challenges, foster youth often experience instability and frequent changes in where they live and where they go to school, according to the National Foster Youth Institute. This contributes to academic difficulties, with only 50% of foster youth finishing high school, studies show.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis program, Augsburg Family Scholars, is based on the idea that if somebody has worked hard enough to get to college, then we will support them and do what we can to help them finish,\u201d Pippert said.<\/p>\n

Building a support system<\/h2>\n

Family Scholars is built around three components: financial support, academic support, and community and relationship support.<\/p>\n

The financial support involves helping students navigate the Fostering Independence Grant and other financial aid programs. This component also includes funding from the Sauer Family Foundation and the Constellation Fund to give students money for basic needs such as buying groceries, outfitting dorms, or living on campus during the summer. While many college students may be able to turn to their families for extra financial help, students who grew up in foster care usually do not have that option.<\/p>\n

\"<strong>Donovan
Donovan Holmes \u201926<\/strong> (Photo by Courtney Perry)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cA lot of people have their parents put money away for their college fund, or they have the time to focus on school and get good grades to get scholarships,\u201d said Donovan Holmes \u201926<\/strong>, a Family Scholars student. \u201cBut foster youth don\u2019t always get those opportunities. Some of us end up being homeless. Some of us have domestic violence going on at home. A lot of us have extremely unstable lives for a long time, so our grades go down, and then we don\u2019t get those scholarships.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s part of why the academic support component of Augsburg Family Scholars is crucial. Pippert meets with students individually as needed to help them stay on track with their schoolwork.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pretty rigidly tracking how they\u2019re doing,\u201d he said. \u201cSome students I meet with every week. Some students I meet with once or twice a semester because they\u2019re killing it and they don\u2019t need much, so we just kind of check in. But there\u2019s heavy academic mentoring and support available to help them get through.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program\u2019s final component, community and relationship support, includes activities and events to help the Family Scholars students bond with each other. The students also have a designated lounge in Memorial Hall where they can relax or study together.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like we are our own little family,\u201d Yang said. \u201cWe\u2019re just a bunch of fosters that attend the same college, but when we hang out together, I forget that we\u2019re even in this program because we are fosters. \u2026 It\u2019s nice that you forget about that part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holmes said he has also made meaningful connections through Family Scholars.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really nice to know that there are other people who have similar experiences to me,\u201d Holmes said. \u201cMy peers in Augsburg Family Scholars share my perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

From foster care to college<\/h2>\n

According to the National Foster Youth Institute, the challenges that children in foster care face outside of school can affect their academic performance and ultimately lower their chances at graduating from college. Studies show that only 3\u20134% of former foster youth obtain a four-year college degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany students (who are not from foster care) don\u2019t have to figure everything out on their own. They have folks who have their back,\u201d Pippert said. \u201cBut for some of our Family Scholars, there just isn\u2019t that home base where they can call and get advice or resources. \u2026 There are more barriers when you don\u2019t have a secure home or guardianship base.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pippert
Pippert talks with Augsburg Family Scholars students. (Photo by Courtney Perry)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, the challenges that come with foster care affect each student differently, Pippert said, and Augsburg Family Scholars works to address each student\u2019s individual needs. \u201cWith 15 students, it runs the gamut of folks who need an awful lot and folks who are doing really well on their own,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Holmes, for example, entered foster care when he was 2 years old. He bounced around between schools for years while switching foster homes. Then, he stopped attending high school for a while when he became homeless.<\/p>\n

\u201cUp until high school I had a really good academic career,\u201d Holmes said. \u201cI got straight As. I was a huge nerd. \u2026 But then in high school, I became homeless. I was homeless for about a year and a half, couchsurfing with my friends, and I was like, \u2018Okay, I can\u2019t do school anymore.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Holmes said he eventually ended up with a foster family that helped him get back into high school, but then he dropped out after experiencing transphobic discrimination at school. \u201cI could have graduated, but honestly, I just didn\u2019t want to be there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Instead, Holmes pursued a career in activism and landed a job with the Division of Indian Work office in Minneapolis, where he was also a client. Holmes said he never intended to go to college until his mentor at the Division of Indian Work encouraged him by saying that not having a college degree would limit his future job prospects.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was doing all this learning through work experience. I thought, \u2018I don\u2019t really need to go to school,\u2019 until my mentor brought up a really good point, which was, \u2018You\u2019re going to stay at these lower-level jobs if you don\u2019t pursue an education,\u2019\u201d Holmes said. The new state grant offering free tuition was another reason Holmes began to seriously consider going to college.<\/p>\n

Holmes had also met with Pippert and learned about Family Scholars, which sealed the deal\u2014he applied to Augsburg and started classes in Fall 2022.<\/p>\n

\"Holmes
Holmes (left) talks with Yang (middle) and Pippert in the Augsburg Family Scholars lounge on campus. (Photo by Courtney Perry)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Navigating the first year<\/h2>\n

Holmes\u2019 transition to Augsburg felt very easy. \u201cI definitely have to say it was because I had people who were supporting me and helping me through,\u201d he said. He added that he enjoys being able to just focus on school as a full-time student.<\/p>\n

There are some Family Scholars students who have had a harder time adjusting to college, Pippert said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had some real academic challenges, and we have a couple folks who won\u2019t be able to continue at Augsburg because the issues were so significant. That\u2019s the reality of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do our best to help students navigate those situations,\u201d Pippert said, \u201cand I think we still consider it worthwhile if they know that when they are more able to navigate life and when they can feel like college is an option again, we\u2019ll be waiting for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The Augsburg Family Scholars lounge is a dedicated space for the program’s students, located in Memorial Hall. (Photo by Courtney Perry)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Overall, though, Pippert reflected on the first year of Augsburg Family Scholars by describing the students\u2019 eagerness and growth at Augsburg.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s simple stuff,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s when students come into the Augsburg Family Scholars lounge or up to my office to tell me about something, like how well they did on a test. We had a student who got an amazing internship this summer; he was so excited to tell me about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yang is among the students who say Augsburg has helped her feel more excited about her education and future opportunities. \u201cCollege flipped my life around. It\u2019s just different now because I finally get the chance to do my own things and choose my own path,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Pippert added that seeing the students come together in community is also rewarding. \u201cSometimes, from my office, I can hear people in the lounge laughing. That, to me, is amazing,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll usually stay away because I\u2019m not going to interrupt that at all. When they connect with each other, that\u2019s so much fun to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead<\/h2>\n

With Augsburg Family Scholars moving into its second year this fall, Pippert is looking for ways to grow the program and offer more support to students.<\/p>\n

This includes exploring grants or other fundraising that might financially support former foster youth who do not qualify for Minnesota\u2019s Fostering Independence Grant. To be eligible for the state grant, students must be younger than 27 and have been placed in foster care in Minnesota after age 13. Those requirements leave out non-traditional students, students who experienced foster care in other states, and students who were in foster care before age 13 but still need support, Pippert said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe students who are not eligible for the Fostering Independence Grant need a lot financially. I\u2019m trying to work on fundraising for those students,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Pippert also wants to better promote Augsburg Family Scholars. \u201cEvery person in Minnesota who has a foster care background should know that college is a possibility, and so many assume it\u2019s not. They don\u2019t even apply because they don\u2019t think it\u2019s possible. So, I\u2019m hoping that Augsburg becomes a model,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Both Yang and Holmes said they are looking forward to starting their second year at Augsburg with Family Scholars.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just excited for the fall semester to start again,\u201d Holmes said.<\/p>\n

Learn more about Augsburg Family Scholars.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Top image: Professor Tim Pippert (right) talks with Augsburg Family Scholars students, Madelyne Yang \u201926 (left) and Donovan Holmes \u201926 (middle) in the Augsburg Family Scholars lounge on campus. (Photo by Courtney Perry)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For most of her life, Madelyne Yang \u201926 thought she\u2019d never go to college. \u201cDuring my senior year of high school, I was like, \u2018I don\u2019t want to go. I\u2019m not going to be able to afford it. My situation is horrible.\u2019 Going to college was honestly not a thought in my head,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":12761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[236],"class_list":["post-12759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-stories","tag-fall-2023"],"wps_subtitle":"New Augsburg program supports students with foster care backgrounds.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12759"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13019,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12759\/revisions\/13019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}