Ball State University’s Guardian Scholars Program is one of the longest-running efforts to help college students who have been in foster care. The program has learned a variety of lessons, thanks in part to a 2007 review conducted by the university’s Social Science Research Center. Here’s what the researchers learned about what works and what doesn’t, and how the program has evolved since then.
You need a committee.
Before starting the program, Guardian Scholars staff recruited individuals from each of the key student-services offices on the Ball State and Ivy Tech Community College campuses to serve on an advisory committee and act as the main points of contact for students. Establishing such a group, said the research center in its report, “ensures that each campus office is aware of the special needs of the students” and “helps eliminate the student’s need to explain their situation to a new person each time.”
Not all students fit the “formal” process.
In the early days of the program, staff members developed intake procedures and forms to complete during the initial meeting with a student. That process seemed to work with students who entered the program as freshmen transitioning out of foster care. But it was less successful with upperclassmen, who tended to seek help only when they reached a point of crisis, and were often “reluctant to enter what they saw as another ‘system.’” Staff members learned that they needed to meet these students’ basic needs and earn their trust before attempting to enroll them in the program.
How colleges can create a sense of family and stability for students who have rarely ever had it.
It’s more than academics.
When developing the program, the staff planned to focus on academic support. They quickly discovered that while students were “academically unprepared even by community-college standards,” they also had large deficits in social skills that would handicap them in the work force. Developing skills around appropriate dress, communication, teamwork, and punctuality became a big part of the program.
Get students to buy in.
In its early days, the program operated on a drop-in basis. While this approach got students comfortable with the staff, it also enabled a “crisis orientation,” in which students would come only when they reached a breaking point. After three semesters of this, staff members began asking students to sign a pledge that they would attend regularly scheduled meetings and participate in group events. Students who signed were considered “active” and eligible for emergency aid and other perks; those who didn’t could still receive services, but mostly on a referral basis.
To further increase student buy-in, the program switched, in 2012, from an open-door model that took all comers to a model in which students must apply and there are a limited number of spots available. Students who are admitted sign a formal participation agreement and get $2,500 in scholarship funds each year.
The program has also become more rigorous about tracking student outcomes, including GPA, first-year retention and graduation rates, and job placement. Last year the freshmen in the program had an average GPA of 3.372 and an 80-percent retention rate.
