The Foster Care to College Partnership
(FCTCP) is a three-year, statewide, grant-
funded initiative intended to improve high
school graduation and college enrollment rates
among foster youth. The DSHS Children\u2019s
Administration, one of six agencies in the
partnership, contracted with the Washington
State Institute for Public Policy (Institute) to
evaluate FCTCP activities. The Foster Care to
College Partnership currently focuses on four
major initiatives for increasing the college
enrollment of foster care youth: an educational
campaign to encourage college enrollment;
one-day informational seminars on college for
middle and high school students; mentoring
programs for youth in high school; and a
summer program known as Make It Happen!
(MIH) for foster youth in grade ten or higher
who are interested in attending college.

This report presents information on the four-day
Make It Happen! summer program. About 100
youth have attended the program in each of its
first three years, 2005 to 2007. Both foster
youth still in high school and those about to
enter college can participate in the program.
Most of the college-bound students attending
MIH have received a Governor\u2019s Scholarship
for Foster Youth; one requirement of the
Governor\u2019s Scholarship program is attendance
at MIH.

Participants at MIH filled out surveys at both the
start and the end of the program. The
responses by high school and college-bound
students were analyzed separately. Highlights

On entering the program, high school
students agreed about 40 to 50 percent of
the time that they felt ready to apply to
college. By the conclusion of the program,
they agreed over 80 percent of the time.

At the start of the program, high school
students agreed that they knew how to
apply for financial aid and pay for college
about 40 percent of the time. By the
end, the percentage was between 87
and 95 percent.

High school students went from agreeing
with up to 60 percent of the statements
indicating knowledge of college life to
about 90 percent agreement.

Changes in survey responses for
students entering college in the fall were
modest; the area with greatest change
was in knowledge of college life.

Foster youth, both high school and
college-bound, entered the program with
high academic and career expectations;
these expectations changed only slightly
during the program.

While MIH affects the knowledge and attitudes of
participants at the time of the program, an
assessment of the impact of the program ultimately
depends on whether participants in MIH are more
likely to enroll and succeed in college than non-
participants. Subsequent reports by the Institute
will examine actual college enrollment and college
persistence rates for students participating in the
program and compare these rates to those for
foster youth with similar characteristics.

Washington State
Institute for
Public Policy

The Make It Happen! (MIH) summer program for
foster youth is modeled after a summer program
in Washington State for low-income youth. That
program, developed as part of the Achievers
Scholarship program, provides a four-day,
overnight experience on college campuses to
encourage college enrollment. The FCTCP
obtained grant monies to establish a similar
summer program in 2005 for foster youth\u2014Make
It Happen! MIH aims to raise college enrollment
among foster youth by increasing their
knowledge of how to pay for and apply to
college. The four-day program provides a
variety of activities, including workshops, a
lecture by a college professor, a panel
presentation by foster youth enrolled in college,
and a college fair. Students also have the
opportunity to live on a college campus and
socialize with other foster youth. Foster youth
who are in high school, in high school equivalent

programs, or entering college are eligible to
participate in the program. Exhibit 1 shows the
demographic composition of participants for the
first three years of the program. Survey
responses from students who received a GED or
did not indicate their grade level are omitted
from all subsequent exhibits.

This report uses surveys completed by
participants before and after the program to
assess the MIH program. These surveys
provide information on students\u2019 reasons for
attending the program; barriers they perceive to
college enrollment and success; and their
knowledge about college life, the college
application process, and financing a college
education. Later reports will compare actual
college enrollment rates for participants in the
MIH program with other selected groups of
foster youth.

5
*This group was not used in the survey analysis.
**The Governor\u2019s scholarship program for foster youth requires recipients to attend MIH. However, recipients

Youth were asked about their reasons for
attending Make It Happen! on a survey
administered at the start of the program. The
wording of the question varied by year, but the
findings are similar. In 2007, students were
asked to indicate whether each of nine listed
reasons influenced their decision to attend the
program. Exhibit 2 shows the percentage of
students indicating that the listed reason
strongly influenced their decision to attend.
Results for high school and college-bound
students are reported in separate columns.

The top reasons cited by students still in high
school for attending MIH were wanting to: plan
their careers (57 percent); meet other youth from
foster care (56 percent); learn how to pay for
college (48 percent); and stay on a college
campus (48 percent). For students about to
attend college, about two-thirds said that
attendance was a scholarship requirement and
almost half indicated that their desire to plan for
their future career strongly influenced their
desire to attend.