{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/132538"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/132538","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"A qualitative study of college success for students with experience in foster care in Pennsylvania","abstract":"Students who have experiences in the foster care system, group homes, or kinship care graduate college at a significantly lower rate than their peers. Most research indicates that no more than four percent of students with experience in the foster care system, who will be represented in this dissertation as SEFC, will complete any level of college degree (Jones & Dean, 2020). The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of students with foster care backgrounds within a community college and four-year institution setting, to gauge the students’ educational confidence and their interest in using resources on campus. The study focused on two schools in Pennsylvania shortly after the adaptation of the Pennsylvania Fostering Independence Tuition Waiver that was passed in 2019 statewide, which provides tuition waivers for students with experience in foster care. This study provides a unique focus in two ways: first, it examines SEFC and their college experience from a first semester perspective, to understand what students’ expectations and needs are as soon as they step onto their campuses. Second, while much of the research on SEFC is focused on data such as GPAs, retention, and graduation rates, this study’s interest was to hear the students’ voices, to learn how they speak about their schooling, and to hear any common language that was used by the participants. The study finally aims to provide recommendations for institutions of higher education to help them to better support the academic achievement of SEFC as first-semester college students.","abstract_html":"Students who have experiences in the foster care system, group homes, or kinship care graduate college at a significantly lower rate than their peers. Most research indicates that no more than four percent of students with experience in the foster care system, who will be represented in this dissertation as SEFC, will complete any level of college degree (Jones & Dean, 2020). The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of students with foster care backgrounds within a community college and four-year institution setting, to gauge the students’ educational confidence and their interest in using resources on campus. The study focused on two schools in Pennsylvania shortly after the adaptation of the Pennsylvania Fostering Independence Tuition Waiver that was passed in 2019 statewide, which provides tuition waivers for students with experience in foster care. This study provides a unique focus in two ways: first, it examines SEFC and their college experience from a first semester perspective, to understand what students’ expectations and needs are as soon as they step onto their campuses. Second, while much of the research on SEFC is focused on data such as GPAs, retention, and graduation rates, this study’s interest was to hear the students’ voices, to learn how they speak about their schooling, and to hear any common language that was used by the participants. The study finally aims to provide recommendations for institutions of higher education to help them to better support the academic achievement of SEFC as first-semester college students.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Sosanko, Amy"],"institution":"University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ed.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Pak, Yoon","Barnett, Bernie","Hood, Denice","Mason, Terrence"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-12","date_published":"2025-12","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:07Z","subjects":["foster care, qualitative research, student success"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2025 Amy Sosanko"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132538","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Pak, Yoon","Barnett, Bernie","Hood, Denice","Mason, Terrence"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Sosanko, Amy"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2025-12","2025-11-26"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ed.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["foster care, qualitative research, student success"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2025 Amy Sosanko"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132538"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Students who have experiences in the foster care system, group homes, or kinship care graduate college at a significantly lower rate than their peers. Most research indicates that no more than four percent of students with experience in the foster care system, who will be represented in this dissertation as SEFC, will complete any level of college degree (Jones & Dean, 2020). The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of students with foster care backgrounds within a community college and four-year institution setting, to gauge the students’ educational confidence and their interest in using resources on campus. The study focused on two schools in Pennsylvania shortly after the adaptation of the Pennsylvania Fostering Independence Tuition Waiver that was passed in 2019 statewide, which provides tuition waivers for students with experience in foster care. This study provides a unique focus in two ways: first, it examines SEFC and their college experience from a first semester perspective, to understand what students’ expectations and needs are as soon as they step onto their campuses. Second, while much of the research on SEFC is focused on data such as GPAs, retention, and graduation rates, this study’s interest was to hear the students’ voices, to learn how they speak about their schooling, and to hear any common language that was used by the participants. The study finally aims to provide recommendations for institutions of higher education to help them to better support the academic achievement of SEFC as first-semester college students.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2026-02-19 without embargo terms","The student, Amy Sosanko, accepted the attached license on 2025-11-26 at 14:06.","The student, Amy Sosanko, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2025-11-26 at 14:15.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2025-11-26 at 15:37.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #22968 on 2026-02-19 at 18:25:32"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["A qualitative study of college success for students with experience in foster care in Pennsylvania"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Pak, Yoon","Barnett, Bernie","Hood, Denice","Mason, Terrence"],"dc:creator":["Sosanko, Amy"],"dc:date":["2025-12","2025-11-26"],"dc:description":["Students who have experiences in the foster care system, group homes, or kinship care graduate college at a significantly lower rate than their peers. Most research indicates that no more than four percent of students with experience in the foster care system, who will be represented in this dissertation as SEFC, will complete any level of college degree (Jones & Dean, 2020). The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of students with foster care backgrounds within a community college and four-year institution setting, to gauge the students’ educational confidence and their interest in using resources on campus. The study focused on two schools in Pennsylvania shortly after the adaptation of the Pennsylvania Fostering Independence Tuition Waiver that was passed in 2019 statewide, which provides tuition waivers for students with experience in foster care. This study provides a unique focus in two ways: first, it examines SEFC and their college experience from a first semester perspective, to understand what students’ expectations and needs are as soon as they step onto their campuses. Second, while much of the research on SEFC is focused on data such as GPAs, retention, and graduation rates, this study’s interest was to hear the students’ voices, to learn how they speak about their schooling, and to hear any common language that was used by the participants. The study finally aims to provide recommendations for institutions of higher education to help them to better support the academic achievement of SEFC as first-semester college students.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. 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