Governor Roy E. Barnes - January 11, 2002

We are here today to announce a plan that will help more Georgia children achieve their education goals.

With the help of the Dept. of Human Resources and the Student Finance Commission, we are proposing a grant program that will help foster children receive a post-secondary education.

This idea came to us through the Youth Leadership Council, which is made up of foster children.

We all know that if children are successful in school they will become adults who are successful in life.

Now children who otherwise might not be able to go to college will have access to all the opportunities that an education provides.

Foster children deserve praise for the heartfelt work that they do and for opening their homes to children in need, but foster parents cannot be expected to pay staggering college costs alone.

The average total cost for a student to attend a public Georgia college can reach up to $10,000 a year.

And college costs are increasing rapidly. Since 1992, the average tuition cost of Georgia four year colleges and universities has increased by 45%. And two-year college tuition has increased 30% over the same period of time.

Right now, foster children no longer receive aid when they turn 21 years old-that often comes before the child has the opportunity to attain a college degree.

This program allows us to provide educational grants for up to five years of post secondary education with no age cap.

In the FY2003 budget, which I will present to the General Assembly next week, I have included $260,000 to help foster children over the age of 21 years old reach their dream of a college degree. Combined with existing federal funds, the money will help 210 foster children stay enrolled in post secondary education this Fall.

The funds can be used for full-time study at any Georgia public college, university, or technical college.

A solid education will give these children the kind of opportunity we want them to have as they grow up-the kind of opportunity that will allow them to do almost anything they choose.

I want to thank Jim Martin, Juanita Blount-Clark and the Georgia Department of Human Resources for their commitment to our foster care system, Glen Newsome and the Student Finance Commission who will administer the funds and the legislators who are here to support this effort, especially Nadine Thomas who has been a champion of this effort.

And I want to thank the foster children who are with us today. I hope that you will all take advantage of this program in the future.

Now, I'd like to introduce Felicia Browder. She is a recent graduate of the University of Georgia and a former foster youth.