Supporting Foster Youth on the Path to Higher Education

Many children enter the foster care system at a very young age, often due to circumstances completely beyond their control. While foster care provides safety and structure, it can also mean growing up without consistent family support or a sense of belonging. For many foster youth, this instability impacts their education and their ability to envision a future that includes higher education.

Students in foster care are significantly less likely to pursue or complete college. Without financial resources, academic guidance, or emotional support, education can feel unattainable. Many foster youth disengage from school early, believing that college is not affordable or realistic for them.

For some students, creative outlets like writing or art become a way to process trauma and express emotions that feel difficult to share. These outlets often reveal untapped potential, but without access to opportunity, that potential can go unrealized.

Dreams 33 exists to change this reality. Dreams 33 is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that students who have experienced foster care have access to higher education if they choose to pursue it. Beginning as early as middle school, students can apply to the program and receive long-term mentorship, academic support, and guidance. Students who graduate high school receive a full-ride scholarship to a college, community college, trade school, or certificate program they are accepted into.

Knowing that college is possible changes how students approach their education. With consistent support, many foster youth improve academically, increase their confidence, and begin to plan for the future. Dreams 33 helps students stay enrolled by providing resources such as textbooks, technology, and individualized advocacy.

The organization also takes a holistic approach, recognizing that academic success depends on meeting basic needs. Dreams 33 supports students as they navigate challenges like housing instability, food insecurity, mental health concerns, and other barriers that can interfere with learning.

When foster youth receive both opportunity and belief, outcomes change. Students are better positioned to persist in school, pursue their goals, and imagine futures that once felt out of reach.

Community support plays a critical role in this work. Children who experience foster care deserve stability, encouragement, and access to opportunity. By investing in foster youth today, we help build stronger futures for individuals, families, and generations to come.