Starting college can be an overwhelming experience for any student. It’s even more daunting for students with a history of foster care, who do not have a history of family support before entering the complex world of higher education.
The UTSA Alumni Association received a 2019 High Impact Grant from Impact San Antonio for their Early Start Experience, a six-day introduction to UTSA for these students was held in August 2020.
It’s part of the Bexar County Fostering Educational Success program, which includes UTSA, the Alamo Colleges and Texas A&M-San Antonio. Other partners include the Bexar County Children’s Court and Child Advocates San Antonio.
The program is designed to improve the college experience for young adults with a history of foster care — a vital service, since such students traditionally have had a high dropout rate. Peggy Eighmy, UTSA’s first lady, started the program with Megan Piel, an assistant professor of social work at UTSA, in 2019. Eighmy spearheaded the effort to get funding from the 2019 Texas Legislature, and it was renewed by the 2021 Legislature.
Since then, the enrollment in the program has doubled, from 100 students at the beginning to about 200 this semester, she said. Ten students are expected to graduate this month. Some students go on to find jobs, while others elect to go to graduate school because of the fee and tuition waivers available through the state, Eighmy noted.
The students receive various services through the Fostering Educational Success Center on campus, including coaching in campus and general life skills, a campus pantry with food and personal care items, emergency funds, peer mentoring, a Supervised Independent Living program that includes a meal plan, laptops available for checkout, gift cards for food and dorm room supplies, and workshops on subjects such as time management.
Incoming students learn about these services when they attend the Early Start Experience orientation in August. While Impact SA’s $100,000 grant was targeted for the August 2020 orientation, the Early Start Experience was held again this year. Due to Covid, it was a hybrid in-person and online experience for UTSA, the Alamo Colleges and A&M-San Antonio, Eighmy said.
“This was a very exciting year for us,” Eighmy said. “The students had five days of orientation, four in person and one day virtually for a joint presentation to all of the schools with a keynote speaker. Between the three institutions, we had almost 100 students. There were 48 at UTSA, including 40 new students and eight who came back as mentors and staff.”
The past year and a half of the pandemic was challenging for many of the students, Eighmy said, and the support they received from the Fostering Success program was crucial.
“We had a lot of students say that having a staff member, called campus coaches with the program, was critically important because they didn’t have family to fall back on,” she noted.
The students are grateful for the help they are receiving through the Fostering Success program, Eighmy said. One student, Israel B., said, “I want to thank you for continuing to support students with a history of foster care, especially during this pandemic. The world needs light, especially right now and especially for those who have had to live with so much darkness. You are changing so many lives, including mine.”
Eighmy credits Impact San Antonio’s 2019 grant to the Early Start Experience for helping get the program going.
“We wouldn’t be where we are today without that grant. We are so grateful for it,” she said.
