A California Senate bill that would provide free college tuition for the state’s 60,000 foster youth advanced in the Senate Education Committee last week.
The Senate Education Committee unanimously approved the bill during a March 29 hearing and referred it for a hearing in the state Senate Committee on Human Services in the coming weeks.
State Senate Bill 307, introduced by state Sen. Angelique Ashby (D-Sacramento) and Senate Majority Leader Mike McGuire (D-North Coast) in February, would establish the Fostering Futures Program as a part of the state’s existing Middle Class Scholarship Program.
The program would cover 100 percent of tuition for foster youth enrolled in associate degree or certificate programs at a community college or in a four-year program at a California State University or University of California campus—including food, textbooks, and housing….