Nine Michigan Colleges Have Full Foster Care Programs
Michigan’s First Lady Sue Snyder and 300 attendees helped the Michigan Education Trust (MET) celebrate its 25th Anniversary at the second annual Fostering Futures Charitable Event. MET, the Department of Treasury and the Department of Human Services (DHS) hosted the fundraiser, with all proceeds benefitting Michigan foster care students, through MET's Charitable Tuition Program. At the close of the event, more than $150,000 had been raised for the Fostering Futures program.
“A heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated in this important fundraiser,” said Robin Lott, MET Executive Director. “Our goal was to raise $100,000 but thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, donors, and a $50,000 match from the Blavin Foundation, we surpassed our goal and will be able to assist even more former foster care students in the future.”
Fostering Futures was created to help teens who emancipate from foster care and want to attend college but do not have the resources to do so. Sponsors of the event, held at Meadow Brook Hall in Rochester, include Meijer, Behavioral Health Professionals, Inc., Bethany Christian Services, JP Morgan, Lake & Newaygo County DHS, Lyon Foundation, Maximus, Michigan Education Savings Plan, Park West Foundation, and R.W. Baird.
“We are thrilled by the event attendance and the growing support overall for this worthy program,” said Maura Corrigan, DHS Director. “Having foster youth there really brought home to everyone the importance of taking action. I am so grateful to the organizers, to our staff and especially Robin Lott of MET for all of the hard work that went into making Fostering Futures such a great success.”
Nine Michigan colleges and universities have implemented programs to help students who are still in or previously were in the foster care system: Baker College - Flint, Eastern Michigan University, Ferris State University, Michigan State University, Saginaw Valley State University, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, University of Michigan - Flint, Wayne State University, and Western Michigan University. Proceeds from Fostering Futures will be distributed to the colleges and universities, to provide scholarships for foster care students.
There are approximately 4,000 students in the Michigan foster care system administered by the Department of Human Services. Fewer than ten percent of those students graduate from high school and enroll in college, and of those, less than one percent earn their degree.
**Met is also reminding individuals and organizations that the current enrollment period ends Monday, September 30, 2013. To help celebrate MET’s 25th anniversary, the $25 processing fee for enrollments completed on-line during September will be waived. For more information on MET, visit www.michigan.gov/setwithmet.
