I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2508
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to improve the ability of 
foster care youths to attend and succeed in higher education. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 19, 2005
Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California (for himself, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. 
GRIJALVA, Mr. HOLT, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. PAYNE, Mrs. MCCARTHY, 
Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mr. OWENS, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. STARK, 
Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. WEXLER, and Ms. 
WOOLSEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to improve 
the ability of foster care youths to attend and succeed 
in higher education.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Foster Opportunities 
for Success Through Higher Education Reform’’ or the 
‘‘FOSTER Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Recent studies by the Center for the Study 
of Social Policy, Casey Family Programs, and the 
Packard Foundation demonstrate that many of the 
20,000 children aging out of foster care each year 
face unique challenges as they enter the adult world: 
a greater likelihood of becoming teen parents, de-
pendence on public assistance, participation in sub-
stance abuse, homelessness, and involvement with 
the criminal justice system compared to youth in the 
general population. 
(2) According to a study of foster care children 
in Washington State, a child who enters foster care 
is likely to have poorer academic outcomes than chil-
dren not in foster care, even after controlling for a 
variety of factors such as poverty. 
(3) A follow-up study in Wisconsin found that 
37 percent of youth had not completed their high 
school education when interviewed 12 to 18 months 
after discharge from foster care. 
(4) A study of African American males in the 
Ohio foster care system found that in the sixth 
grade, African American males in foster care had 
significantly lower scores than 1 or more of the 4 
comparison groups (all students, all African Amer-
ican students, all male students, all African Amer-
ican male students). 
(5) By the ninth grade, the African American 
males in foster care had significantly lower scores 
than all of the comparison groups. 
(6) These youth in foster care are less likely to 
be enrolled in college preparatory classes and are 
more than twice as likely as non-foster care youth 
(37 percent vs. 16 percent) to have dropped out of 
high school. 
(7) A 2002 report issued by the Child Welfare 
League of America (CWLA) found that more than 
26 percent of foster children have repeated a grade 
at least once since the seventh grade; 60 percent 
have failed a class in the previous year; over a third 
were below grade level in written language, math 
and readings; foster youth have higher absentee and 
tardy rates than their non-foster peers. 
(8) A report from Casey Family Programs indi-
cated that, nationwide, fewer than 27 percent of fos-
ter youth who graduated high school went on to col-
lege as compared to 52 percent of the general popu-
lation. 
(9) A May 2002, report issued by the Univer-
sity of California at Berkeley found that of more
than 3200 foster care youth who attended a commu-
nity college from 1992 through 2000, 39 percent 
earned between 1 and 17 credits. Forty percent of 
the foster care youth earned no credits. Many did 
not attempt to take classes for credit, but rather 
were enrolled in remedial or other non-credit classes. 
SEC. 3. FOSTER CARE YOUTH OUTREACH AND HOUSING 
SERVICES. 
Subpart 2 of part A of title IV of the Higher Edu-
cation Act of 1965 is amended by adding at the end the 
following new chapter: 
‘‘CHAPTER 4—FOSTER CARE YOUTH 
OUTREACH AND HOUSING SERVICES 
‘‘SEC. 408A. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND SUPPORT SERV-
ICES. 
‘‘(a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—From the amounts 
appropriated under section 408E(a), the Secretary shall 
provide competitive grants to public and private institu-
tions of higher education to provide technical assistance 
and supportive services to foster care youth who are pro-
spective students to prepare for, enter, and remain in such 
institutions. 
‘‘(b) 
AUTHORIZED
SERVICES.—Funds 
provided 
under this section may be used to provide—
‘‘(1) academic counseling;
‘‘(2) college financial-aid counseling; and 
‘‘(3) other appropriate support services in-
tended to improve the delivery of services to foster 
care youth. 
‘‘(c) APPLICATIONS.—An institution seeking a grant 
under this section shall submit an application to the Sec-
retary. Such application shall—
‘‘(1) contain assurances that the applicant 
will—
‘‘(A) evaluate—
‘‘(i) the extent to which the institu-
tion’s current programs are meeting the 
needs of foster care youth; and 
‘‘(ii) how the institution’s outreach 
and retention services can be improved; 
‘‘(B) report to the Secretary on current 
and expanded services and efforts to increase 
the number of foster care youth who attend the 
institution and remain in school to earn a de-
gree or certificate; 
‘‘(C) expand representation on student 
body governing boards to include at least one 
former foster care youth that will serve to ad-
vise the institution on student life issues, with 
particular attention to the unique barriers for
foster care youth in accessing and completing 
postsecondary education; and 
‘‘(D) coordinate with the State social serv-
ices and child welfare departments in order to 
facilitate the outreach and technical assistance 
efforts for prospective students who are foster 
care youth; and 
‘‘(2) contain such additional information and 
assurances as the Secretary may require. 
‘‘(d) SELECTION
OF APPLICANTS.—The Secretary 
shall select institutions of higher education for the award 
of grants under this section on the basis of identifying 
those institutions that are most likely to be able to suc-
cessfully carry out the program under this section and 
serve the goal of expanding higher educational opportuni-
ties for foster care youth. 
‘‘SEC. 408B. HOUSING FOR FOSTER CARE YOUTH. 
‘‘(a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—From the amounts ap-
propriated under section 408E(b), the Secretary shall pro-
vide grants to institutions of higher education to ensure 
basic housing during the regular academic school year, in-
cluding interim housing during regular periods of dor-
mitory closing (excluding summer break), for those foster 
care youth living in college dormitories.
‘‘(b) APPLICATIONS.—An institution seeking a grant 
under this section shall submit an application to the Sec-
retary containing such information as the Secretary may 
require. 
‘‘(c) SELECTION
OF APPLICANTS.—The Secretary 
shall select institutions of higher education for the award 
of grants under this section on the basis of identifying 
those institutions that are most likely to be able to suc-
cessfully carry out the program under this section and 
serve the goal of expanding higher educational opportuni-
ties for foster care youth. 
‘‘SEC. 408C. COORDINATION. 
‘‘(a) COORDINATION WITH THE JOHN H. CHAFEE 
FOSTER CARE INDEPENDENCE PROGRAM.—The Sec-
retary shall ensure that activities under this chapter are 
coordinated with programs under section 477(i) of the So-
cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 6383). 
‘‘(b) COORDINATION WITH TRIO AND GEARUP.—
Each recipient of funds under the programs authorized 
by chapters 1 and 2 of this subpart shall identify services 
to foster care youth as a permissible service in those pro-
grams, and ensure that such youth receive supportive serv-
ices, including mentoring, tutoring, and other services pro-
vided by those programs.
‘‘SEC. 408D. ELIGIBLE FOSTER CARE YOUTH. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An individual shall be treated as 
a foster care youth eligible for services and benefits under 
this chapter if such individual is—
‘‘(1) a youth for whom the State or an entity 
licensed by the State has responsibility for place-
ment, care, or supervision, and includes youth in fos-
ter homes, group homes, or kinship care; or 
‘‘(2) a high school senior or student currently 
enrolled in a postsecondary education program who 
is older than 18 years old and is no longer living 
with his or her foster family, as long as he or she 
was under State care until age 18. 
‘‘(b) KINSHIP CARE.—For a youth to be eligible as 
receiving kinship care, the State or an entity licensed by 
the State must have intervened on the youth’s behalf and 
a court of competent jurisdiction must have issued a court 
order of dependency and the court order or the State or 
the entity licensed by the State must have placed the 
youth in legal kinship care. A youth who is residing with 
his or her relatives in any other type of situation is not 
eligible as receiving kinship care. 
‘‘SEC. 408E. AUTHORIZATION. 
‘‘(a) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND OUTREACH SERV-
ICES.—There are authorized to be appropriated for grants 
under section 408A, such sums as may be necessary for
fiscal year 2006 and for each of the 5 succeeding fiscal 
years. 
‘‘(b) HOUSING FOR FOSTER CARE YOUTH.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated for grants under section 
408B, such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2006 
and for each of the 5 succeeding fiscal years.’’. 
SEC. 4. FAIR TREATMENT FOR FOSTER CARE YOUTH IN FI-
NANCIAL NEED ANALYSIS. 
(a) SIMPLIFYING
FOR STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL 
CIRCUMSTANCES.—Section 480 of the Higher Education 
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087vv) is amended by striking 
subsection (d) and inserting the following: 
‘‘(d) INDEPENDENT STUDENT.—
‘‘(1) DEFINITION.—The term ‘‘independent’’, 
when used with respect to a student, means any in-
dividual who—
‘‘(A) is 24 years of age or older by Decem-
ber 31 of the award year; 
‘‘(B) is an orphan, in foster care, or a 
ward of the court, or was in foster care or a 
ward of the court until the individual reached 
the age of 18; 
‘‘(C) is an emancipated youth as defined 
by his or her state of legal residence or is in
legal guardianship as defined by section 475(7) 
of the Social Security Act; 
‘‘(D) is a veteran of the Armed Forces of 
the United States (as defined in subsection 
(c)(1)); 
‘‘(E) is a graduate or professional student; 
‘‘(F) is a married individual; 
‘‘(G) has legal dependents other than a 
spouse; or 
‘‘(H) is a student for whom a financial aid 
administrator makes a documented determina-
tion of independence by reason of unusual cir-
cumstances. 
‘‘(2) SIMPLIFYING
THE
DEPENDENCY
OVER-
RIDE
PROCESS.—Nothing in this subsection shall 
prohibit a financial aid administrator to make a de-
termination 
of 
independence 
under 
paragraph 
(1)(H) based upon a documented determination of 
independence under such paragraph previously made 
by another financial aid administrator in the same 
application year.’’. 
(b) TAILORING
ELECTRONIC
APPLICATIONS
FOR 
STUDENTS
WITH
SPECIAL
CIRCUMSTANCES.—Section 
483(a) of the Higher Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1090(a))
is amended by adding at the end the following new para-
graph: 
‘‘(8) APPLICATIONS FOR STUDENTS SEEKING A 
DOCUMENTED
DETERMINATION
OF
INDEPEND-
ENCE.—In the case of dependent students seeking a 
documented determination of independence by a fi-
nancial aid administrator, as defined by section 
480(d), nothing in this section shall prohibit the 
Secretary from —
‘‘(A) allowing such students to indicate 
their special circumstance on an electronic form 
developed pursuant for this section; 
‘‘(B) collecting and processing on a pre-
liminary basis data provided by such students 
using the electronic forms developed pursuant 
for this section; and 
‘‘(C) distributing such data to institutions 
of higher education, guaranty agencies, and 
States for the purposes of processing loan appli-
cations and determining need and eligibility for 
institutional and State financial aid awards on 
a preliminary basis, pending a documented de-
termination of independence by a financial aid 
administrator.’’.
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