Bring down tuition walls, says youth advocate

Watchdog calls for removal of age caps on free fees for former children in care

B.C.’s youth advocate wants the province to remove some of the restrictions on its free tuition program for former children in care.

Bernard Richard said he “wholeheartedly” supports the new initiative, but he sees no reason to limit access to those 26 years and younger who have spent at least two years in government care.

The representative for children and youth said in an interview that only about 50 per cent of youth in care graduate from high school, compared with almost 90 per cent of those raised outside the care system.

“So they’re already behind the eight ball,” he said. “We shouldn’t be creating more barriers for them to pursue post-secondary education. Everyone wins if they do.”

The NDP government announced in September that former children in care would get free tuition at any of B.C.’s 25 colleges and universities provided they met the eligibility requirements.

The program was a key campaign promise and built on the work of Vancouver Island University, which, in 2013, became the first post-secondary school in B.C. to waive tuition fees for young people aging out of government care.

The University of Victoria and nine other schools subsequently adopted similar programs.

Richard noted that the universities initially offered tuition waivers to young people who spent at least year in care, rather than the two years required by the government’s new program.

“I can’t see any reason why the [government] program would be more onerous, would provide more barriers, to accessing postsecondary education,” he said.

But Advanced Education Minister Melanie Mark said in an interview that the government program is available to more vulnerable youth than the early university waivers were.

She said universities generally offered free tuition to young people who had been in permanent custody of the state or who lived independently under youth agreements.

The NDP decided to also make the fee waivers available to youth who received government services through other arrangements, such as special-needs agreements, temporary custody orders, voluntary care agreements and extended family plans, Mark said.

“We opened up the definition of ‘former kids in care’ by making it more accessible for a whole bunch of kids that aren’t living at home.”

Richard also wants government to eliminate the age cap on the program.

“I certainly think that 26 is way too young, having talked to many young adults from care who say it takes a while to get their life together,” he said.

Richard said his office has spoken to young adults who have been turned down for the tuition waiver because they were too old.

“I want to be clear, I think most have been approved on appeal,” he said.

But even the appeal process is troubling, given the difficulties many former foster youth have experienced in their lives already, he said.

Richard cited the case of one young woman who began living independently at 15 and overcame a number of setbacks.

Now 32 and studying to be a nurse, she is getting good grades, but was initially rejected for the free tuition program.

“She eventually was approved on appeal, but I don’t know if you can even imagine what she went through, pending approval after appeal,” Richard told a legislative committee last week.

“That period of uncertainty was very, very traumatic for her.”

Mark said the program is only a few months old and still being evaluated.

“If we’ve overlooked something, we’re going to improve that policy,” she said.

“We committed to doing that as soon as we made the announcement. This is just a beginning.

“Right now, we’re just still testing how is the program working for young people. What’s working and what’s not? And it’s too soon to say whether we should change that [age limit].”