Posts published on August 5, 2016

How Be Successful In College While In Foster Care

BY SYLVIA KOHL

Everyone should have equal chances to obtain higher education. Children that grow up in foster care often lack knowledge about their rights and special opportunities, thus losing their chance to continue their studies after high school. Bear in mind five tips, mentioned here – and you will reach your goals in higher education and become a successful student in college. Let’s start:

Reason #1: You Can Get Special Government Scholarships

You might not know it, but there are many scholarship opportunities for foster youth. Scholarships do help a lot when it comes to the higher education. However, not many potential students know where to find them. Among the most popular foster children scholarship programs one could name Horatio Alger Scholarships, Foster Care to Success and Sponsored Scholarship Program – and though these funds and programs mostly provide partial scholarship, their financial aid could still be of use for those who really want to study.  Are you one of those who live in foster care? U.S. Department of Education released a Foster Care Transition Toolkit that allows foster youth to find out the ways of getting higher education and build a successful career afterwards.

Reason #2: You Can Find Mentors

Financial aid is not enough when it comes to achieving important life goals. Proper emotional support is also very important as well as a smart advice, offered in time. That is when mentors and mentoring organizations come in handy. As an example, one could name Boys and Girls Clubs of America and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Reach out – and you will be surprised how easier your life will be with someone experienced and willing to help nearby.

Reason #3: You Can Join Clubs

Remember, once you are finally enrolled in university or college, one of the most exciting parts of your life just begins. And though the studying process itself is quite complex and interesting, college is not just about education. It’s also about communication and getting friends for the whole life. That is why it could be a wise choice to join a club or a fraternity. Here you can find some ideas where to start from.

Reason #4: Seek Opportunities

Perhaps, if you were fostered, it was a child custody lawyer that changed your life once, but now it’s all in your hands. You would be surprised to find out how many programs from US Department of Education (Upward Bound, Gear Up, Talent Search) are there that can help you with your college admission. If you apply for one of these programs, you will become much more skillful when it comes to writing essays and CVs for your admission process.

Reason #5: You Can Make Use of Additional Sources

Nowadays higher education became much more available due to the overwhelming amount of information in open access. Online libraries, offline libraries, special websites with professional data – make use of them while you study and there won’t be any troubles. Of course, it is also important to learn how to find sources that can be trusted, but this skill comes along with experience.

Author’s bio:

Sylvia Kohl is an IT teacher with more than 7 years of professional experience. Her main spheres of interest are e-education and beta-testing. This writer chose news about the increasing role of IT usage in colleges and schools as the most common topic for her articles.