Am. H. B. No. 164 Summary

• Establishes the Foster-to-College Scholarship Program beginning in the 2023-2024 academic year to provide scholarships to qualifying students who have been in foster care at age 13 or older or in noncertified kinship care with documented abuse, neglect, or dependency adjudication.

• Requires the Department of Education and Workforce to hire a full-time school foster care liaison to facilitate services for students in foster care, including keeping them in their school of origin when appropriate and ensuring proper school placement and transition planning.

• Scholarship amounts equal a student's cost of attendance minus all other financial aid received (federal Pell grants, state grants, Chafee ETV grants, private scholarships, and institutional aid), with payments made directly to participating institutions of higher education.

• Appropriates $7,500,000 for fiscal year 2024 and $7,500,000 for fiscal year 2025 to the Chancellor of Higher Education, with portions allocated to employ four full-time foster care student navigators to assist prospective qualifying students with college applications and enrollment.

• Transfers $15,000,000 from the General Revenue Fund to create a new Foster-to-College Scholarship Fund (Fund 5AM1) in the state treasury.