Tuition waivers for youth in care not enough to fix education gap, researcher says

At least 45 students started post-secondary programs across Nova Scotia this fall funded by tuition waivers specifically for people who were in government care.

"As we look over time, we see the educational attainment of kids from care is not improving," said Jacquie Gahagan, who leads the Atlantic Tuition Waiver project and is associate vice-president of research at Mount Saint Vincent University.

Gahagan noted that less than 10 per cent of former youth in care go on to finish post-secondary education.

READ MORE: Canadian caregivers spend thousands of dollars annually, new report finds

READ MORE: Traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner to cost 10 percent more in Ontario

The researcher also said less that 50 per cent of kids from care in Canada even finish high school, a statistic they described as "a problem."

By comparison, data from the province of Nova Scotia and Statistics Canada show an overall high school graduation rate of over 90 per cent.

Tuition waiver programs launched in Atlantic Canada around 2020 and Gahagan saw a chance to study them from inception. They have learned waivers help, but more support is required.

This includes mental health support, mentoring, and sometimes food or housing assistance.

Most tuition waiver programs cover school fees but the student is responsible for added expenses such as room, board, textbooks and laptops.

Sen. Wanda Thomas Bernard pushed for the Senate to examine outcomes for youth aging out of care in a national report released in December.

Decades of experience as a social worker in Nova Scotia taught her that the system of services has a "patchwork" quality where students who do well in school tend to get more support.

"But I thought, well, what about the ones who aren't doing so well? They need that help more than anyone else," she said in a recent interview.

She believes the child protection and education systems do not have enough wraparound support to help kids through the trauma of being removed from their family.

She said that trauma often comes out in behaviours at school, and the focus becomes on fixing or controlling the behaviour rather than inquiring about the reason behind it.

"How do you work with those kids who are difficult to work with?" she said. "Doesn't mean we shy away from them. It means we need to work harder to reach them."

Gahagan believes changes at the federal level are needed, including better data collection on outcomes and a national child and youth advocate.

They also believe work needs to be done at the provincial level, but they credit Nova Scotia for implementing the Path program, which allows former youth in care to receive biweekly financial support up to age 24.

The province did consultation and research before starting Path in 2024, and released some of its work through access-to-information requests earlier this year.

The briefing notes described how youth in care often do not graduate from high school, which means they transition "directly into poverty."

One note written in 2021 described how in the previous 10 years there were 730 youth who aged out of care in Nova Scotia. The note said nearly 60 per cent sought income assistance at some point.

Programs like Path and post-secondary tuition waivers are meant for young people after they turn 19.

Gahagan is calling for more attention to kids' schooling while they are still in the care system.

Former kids in care have spoken to CBC about the disruption of bumping between multiple foster care and group home placements. Gahagan said their research shows that is a big problem.

"You start in a new school. You have a new peer group, you're trying to catch up on what you missed out on," they said.

"That means we're not focusing on educational attainment, we're focusing on moving this person as needed for placements."

Jill Barkhouse, the Department of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage's executive director of child and family well-being, said a child's school experience is "crucial" in their development.

She said her department works with the education system to share information and try to help kids succeed.

She said an example of this is a dedicated consultant role that is shared with the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development to help kids make the transition between schools.

Gahagan said former youth in care often express a sense of embarrassment or personal failure about education. But Gahagan does not see it that way.

"This is a symptom of a bigger problem, which is to say: we're not focusing on the educational attainment of kids in care. And we should be doing that."

With files from CBC News