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

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. This study is not a rigorous impact evaluation and therefore cannot definitively state that ETV award/use impacted college enrollment, persistence and attainment. 

In this study of the ETV program, results demonstrated three key things:

1. Many young adults eligible for ETVs do not receive them. This study found that relatively few young adults (37 percent) who were ETV-eligible and enrolled in college were awarded or used the voucher. This was especially true for young adults who exited care before their 18th birthday and enrolled in college. Given that all 10 states described their outreach as primarily done through caseworkers, these results suggest that young adults who are eligible but do not age out of care may not know about the program.
2. There is wide variation in how ETV is implemented across states including eligibility, application process, funding dispersal, and renewal processes. When defining eligibility, 2 of the 10 states required only that the young adults be in care on or after their 16th birthday, and the remainder of the states required either that they had a certain amount of time in care or a particular discharge reason (e.g. emancipation, guardianship, or adoption), or both. The application process also varied widely, with some states requiring a significant amount of documentation and a multipage application while others had applications of less than a page. Most programs dispersed the funding directly to colleges, but some states gave the money directly to young adults. Most states required that young adults meet satisfactory academic progress as defined by the school in order to renew, although some allowed for an appeals process to account for special circumstances. While some states automatically renewed program participants if they met satisfactory academic progress and were still enrolled in school, a few of the states required young adults to fill out a new application or attain a certain GPA.
3. Receiving an ETV is correlated with better educational outcomes for young adults. However, even for young adults who do receive an ETV, graduation rates are still well below the national average. By age 24, 85 percent of young adults receiving an ETV completed a year of college compared with 60 percent of young adults who enrolled without an ETV. Among those who first enrolled in college by age 21 without an ETV, only 9 percent had graduated by age 24. However, young adults who received an ETV had much higher rates of graduation at 17 percent overall.

Results showed differences in the characteristics of young adults who receive ETVs and other eligible young adults who do not enroll in college or enroll in college without an ETV. Females are more likely to enroll in college overall and twice as likely as males to enroll in college with an ETV. Overall, Black young adults were more likely to enroll and more likely to enroll with an ETV than white or Hispanic young adults, but this varied by state. Across all 10 states, young adults who were in care at ages 17 and 18 and/or emancipated were more likely to enroll in college and enroll with an ETV than those who exited care at 16. Involvement with child welfare around the age of 18 was the greatest predictor of use of ETV.

The study examined when and where young people use ETVs. Most young adults received their ETV before age 19 (68 percent), and most young adults who received an ETV did so for more than one year (58 percent). However, a significant proportion of those who received ETVs only had the voucher for one year (42 percent). Most young adults eligible for ETV enrolled in two-year schools (75 percent), public schools (91 percent), and in-state schools (90 percent). In comparison to eligible young adults who enrolled in college without ETVs, young adults who received ETVs were more likely to enroll full-time, more likely to enroll in four-year schools, and less likely to enroll in for-profit colleges.

This analysis linked multiple administrative data sources to evaluate ETV program participation and educational outcomes. For analyses, child welfare administrative data were matched on the foster care histories of all young adults who could be eligible for ETV from 10 states (California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee) with ETV program data and National Student Clearinghouse data on college enrollment and attainment. Analyses examined who used ETVs, what predicts ETV utilization, and how ETVs are used. The study also investigated whether receiving an ETV is correlated with a young person’s likelihood of persisting in or graduating from postsecondary education. In addition to analyzing data, interviews were conducted with ETV program coordinators in each of the 10 states in order to understand how their program is implemented and the differences across programs.

This work helped shed light on the Education and Training Voucher Program and raises considerations for researchers and policymakers as well as states.  Key considerations include:

For Future Research

• This study does not demonstrate the impact of the Education and Training Voucher program on enrollment and persistence, rather it shows a correlation that persists even after controlling for young adults’ characteristics.  A rigorous evaluation of the ETV program, is needed to estimate the impact of ETVs on college enrollment, persistence, and attainment.
• A study identifying best practices in ETV program implementation would help states to make informed decisions about implementation.

For Policymakers

• There are many more youth who are potentially eligible for ETVs than youth who receive them. One potential reason for low ETV use/awards is that states may be underfunded to provide ETV to all eligible young adults. As the only state in our sample that provided the maximum ETV amount to all young adults, California had to turn away many young adults for lack of funding. In interviews, administrators from other states said that they had to reduce the amount of the award in order to serve all young adults who applied. This suggests that many states could use additional funds to serve all young adults with the maximum amount of funding.

For States

• Barriers in the ETV application process may contribute to low program participation levels. For instance, application requirements in states that require a significant amount of documentation and a long application may be barriers to young adults applying for and receiving ETVs. States could reduce the burden of the application process on young adults by reducing the length of the application or using administrative data matches to verify eligibility instead of requiring documentation. States may need to increase their outreach to young adults, especially those not in care on or after their 18th birthday.