The Provincial Tuition Waiver Program (PTWP) is a government benefit introduced in 2017 that helps former youth in care access post-secondary education by covering the cost of tuition. The BC government estimates that 1,900 students across BC have benefited from PTWP since it was introduced.
Unlike scholarships, grants and bursaries, PTWP is classified as a benefit administered by StudentAid BC. Another difference is that students do not receive the funding directly.
“It’s not a cash-in-hand program, so it’s not a program where the students are given a cheque or X amount of money if they’re approved for it,” says Camosun College Financial Aid advisor Kolina Ecklin, who oversees PTWP at Camosun.
To be eligible for the program a student must either have been in care when they turned 19 or have been in care under the Ministry of Child and Family Development (MCFD) for 24 cumulative months any time prior to turning 19; have been adopted; or have been formerly in the Child in Home of a Relative program. Effective August 1, there is no longer an age cap on when a former youth in care can apply; previously, students could only apply up until their 27th birthday.
Undergraduate studies, apprenticeship programs, and continuing education courses are covered by PTWP; master’s degrees, PhD or post-graduate courses or programs, and Adult Basic Education programs are not eligible. Individual courses are also covered, as students don’t need to know which credential they want to obtain to access PTWP. Students will also continue to be eligible for PTWP if they switch their enrolment to another program.
Despite having existed for six years, the tuition waiver program is not necessarily well-known. Rather than social workers telling individuals about the benefit, some students seemed to stumble across the information. Camosun College Arts and Science student Emily-Jayne Smythe received a letter from the government when she turned 18.
“If I hadn’t gotten a letter in the mail I never would have known,” says Smythe.
Gauge Duce graduated from Camosun in April with a post-grad certificate in mental health. She started her studies at UVic, where she found out about PTWP.
“At UVic, the Financial Aid advisor mentioned something about coverage from the government for school. And then I reached out to my social worker, and they explained all of it to me,” says Duce.
Ecklin acknowledges there’s a communication problem and wishes there was more funding to advertise the waiver program, not just at Camosun, but across the province. She’s started asking students where they heard about the program to get a better sense of where the news is coming from. Since Camosun sent out a press release about the changes to the Tuition Waiver back in May, Ecklin has seen an increase in applications. The BC government is anticipating an increase of 1,500 applications this year and 1,000 to 1,200 each year for the following two years.
The BC government also issued a press release in May; however, a review of their social media shows only one tweet about the program from the BC NDP and one from Henry Yao, BC NDP MLA for Richmond South Centre. There are no posts on Instagram or Facebook from the BC NDP regarding the changes. However, there are Facebook posts from Dan Coulter, MLA for Chilliwack and minister of state for infrastructure and transit; Josie Osborne, MLA for Mid Island-Pacific Rim and minister of energy, mines and low carbon innovation; and Aman Singh, MLA for Richmond-Queensborough and parliamentary secretary for environment. StudentAid BC sent out one tweet in May.
When posting about the tuition waiver, Osbourne and Singh used a graphic that emphasized “Stronger BC” whereas Dan Coulter used a graphic that emphasized the tuition waiver program which has also been used by institutions and other organizations.
Instagram and Facebook would be logical places to advertise due to the high number of students that use the platforms, but due to the Online News Act the BC government has suspended advertising on those platforms. If students want updates on government activities, they have to follow the BC NDP or individual ministries, which means the government needs to be more proactive in their posting and reposting.
For students that find out about the program after paying tuition, there’s a reimbursement opportunity but the window is small.
“If a student starts in September, has paid their tuition and fees, and then is approved for tuition waivers before the term ends in December, so whatever the last day of the exam period is, then I would be able to reimburse them from the program,” explains Ecklin. If exams have ended, students can apply for a tuition waiver for the next semester.
Duce points out that Camosun has made the waiver program more visible on the Financial Aid & Awards webpage by adding it to the drop-down menu to refine a search for bursaries. A more recent update to the website has increased the visibility further; it now appears on the landing page for Financial Aid.
To increase awareness, Duce suggests that social workers and financial aid advisors be more transparent about the waiver program.
“It can be a weird question, to have on applications and on things,” says Duce. “But even just having that question, ‘Are you a former youth in care?’ on things… would be really helpful because a lot of people don’t like admitting that they’re a former youth in care, but it can be really helpful. When you get used to it, you get comfortable admitting that you are a former youth in care.”
Smythe echoes a need for social workers to be more proactive in getting information out to youth in care, and also adds that Camosun can do more as well.
“I think that Camosun should be sending out emails to maybe every student that’s enrolled,” she says, “because you never know how many of them qualify for it, but don’t know about it.”
Smythe suggests the eligibility requirements be listed in the email, along with information on the program, the link to apply, and an opportunity for a Zoom meeting to have an information session with Ecklin.
Information sessions would be helpful: there are three student funding options with three applications, two of which have to be done through Financial Aid, but one that can go through Financial Aid or StudentAid BC; it’s confusing to sort it all out.
The timing of when students are informed about the tuition waiver program can also make an impact on youth in care.
“I feel like 16 would be a better age just because, for one, it gives you more time to plan and figure out what to do, because, especially in my situation… Back then before I knew about it, I was kind of like, ‘I’ll probably never really be able to do school.’ And it bummed me out a lot and caused a lot of depression, feeling not-so-great feelings about my future,” says Smythe. “And I feel like if I had known a lot sooner like that, I would have liked this kind of opportunity. It would have benefited me a lot more to be able to plan and have hope for the future.”
Smythe says that knowing about the waiver program would have also helped her pick the high-school courses she needed as prerequisites for courses at Camosun. High-school students begin picking credit courses to chart their future in grade 10. If youth in care are advised around that time that post-secondary education is possible for them through the tuition waiver program it could change their whole high-school experience. They may not know what they want to do post-graduation, but they could ensure they have basic admission requirements, or put more thought into the electives they choose. In general, it could offer hope for a better future, which may help them persevere through the most difficult times they face, especially if they’re juggling school and work to pay rent.
The Tuition Waiver program does what it sounds like: it waives tuition. Student fees are also included, but textbooks and other supplies needed for classes are not covered. However, there’s other wraparound funding available to assist former youth in care students to offset these costs.
Through the Financial Aid office, Camosun administers the Youth Futures Education Fund (YFEF), a mix of funding from the government and other agencies such as the United Way. Students need to provide a budget for their overall needs, such as the cost of textbooks, cost of living, utilities, and food to receive funding. Once approved, funds are distributed based on how much funding Camosun receives and the needs of the students.
The process can be a bit overwhelming, however, Financial Aid can help.
“A lot of the time, students aren’t sure quite what to indicate and what they can indicate as an expense to be considered for the funding,” says Ecklin. “So, I will meet a lot of students about their Youth Futures Education Fund application for that or I will have a phone conversation with them.”
Students need to apply for YFEF each semester they want to receive funding for, and the amount of money a student receives can vary from semester to semester. Once approved, funds are distributed to students by e-transfer, the same way bursaries are distributed through Financial Aid.
“I am typically the person that will distribute the funds; I get those applications, and I see what these students need for their studies,” says Ecklin. “It’s always nice to be able to help people out with money where you can.”
StudentAid BC also offers a grant for former youth in care, which is in a transitional period. As of July 31, the Youth Education Assistance Fund (YEAF) is no longer taking applications; it has been replaced with the Learning for Future grant (LFFG) with some changes. (There was a four-year cap on assistance with YEAF, however, students who have used up their four years of YEAF are still eligible for LFFG.)
LFFG is a lump sum of $3,500 that students can receive annually. This change is one part of the government’s StrongerBC Future Ready plan to help make post-secondary education and skills training more accessible to BC residents.
The Future Ready plan aims to meet a skills shortage demand by increasing accessibility to advanced education with a $480-million investment and post-secondary education budget increase over the next three years. Other needs-based and industry-specific funding is available as part of the Future Ready plan. An increase to student-loan funding and more flexible repayment options are included in the 2023 budget and are part of the Future Ready plan.
Scholarships, grants, and bursaries are helpful for anyone trying to deal with the high cost of tuition. However, as Duce points out, the thought of going to post-secondary school for youth in care can be more daunting.
“A lot of youth in care have lived through a lot of trauma and adding debt on top of trauma is just an anxiety attack waiting to happen,” says Duce. “And so, a lot of former youth in care, I feel like, don’t access post-secondary and further their education, not because they don’t want to or they can’t, but because they just simply can’t afford it. So, I think this now will be kind of that gateway for that opportunity for them. I just think it’s fabulous.”
Youth in care can bounce around from foster home to foster home, live under the threat of MCFD taking them away at any moment if they misbehave, and have to grow up a lot faster in a much more challenging environment; they’ve had to become adults before turning 18. Trying to figure out work, rent, and paying bills can be challenging enough without adding student debt into the mix. Duce’s message to former youth in care is to advocate.
“My biggest suggestion is advocate, advocate, advocate for yourself. Don’t be afraid to bug that social worker and ask those what seemed to be maybe stupid questions. And just push for those answers,” says Duce. “Push for the funding, push for the help that you need, because it’s available, and just have that voice be able to say, ‘Hey, no, don’t ignore my phone calls, don’t ignore my emails.’ Call every day if you have to. Be the advocate for yourself that you’ve always wanted someone else to be for you.”
The impact that the PTWP can have on former youth in care is significant. It’s not just a matter of getting free education—it’s a lifeline.
“Hundreds, thousands, of people all across BC, who grew up in foster care or group homes or, you know, have been absolutely shit on their entire life by everyone all around them, have never had any kind of opportunity or that are coming from a lot of trauma and hardship, and getting the opportunity to actually go to school and not have to stress over student fees and all that kind of stuff and being able to have the opportunity to take courses that you’re interested in, things that you love and you want to expand upon, that’s really invaluable,” Smythe says. “And because for a really long time, growing up I was like, ‘I’m never going to be able to go to school or university or, ever get a career, I’ll never be able to, do that,’ because I didn’t have any family, I didn’t have anything, like, I didn’t have any support system. So, the tuition waiver program is a massive step in the right direction.”