Sen. Tracy Pennycuick, a Republican for Montgomery and Berks Counties, has legislation that expands the Fostering Independence Tuition Waiver Program to out-of-state students.
The program “waives tuition and mandatory fees charged by most postsecondary institutions in the Commonwealth for youth who are or were in foster care”. Right now the program only applies to students in foster care in Pennsylvania.
SB432 would expand the program so that students from other states who were in foster care could also receive the benefits of the program.
Pennycuick says these students ofter have federal grant money that in turn goes to Pennsylvania higher education institutions. The senator said there was some initial pushback from lawmakers who worried extending eligibility would take resources away from Pennsylvania students. Pennycuick says there is plenty of space in Pennsylvania colleges and the grant program to accomadate out-of-state applicants.
Pennsylvania has a growing elderly population and trends show younger people populations are more stagnant. Pennycuick and other lawmakers hope attracting more out-of-state students to the Commonwealth could help reverse those population trends.