The project, Fostering Attainment Through 成人直播al Supports (FATES), also will document and describe what campus support programs, if any, exist at non-profit, two- and four-year colleges and universities nationwide.

The FATES team, led by faculty member Jacob P. Gross, hopes the data will help colleges and universities better support youth who have been in foster care and are pursuing higher education.

鈥淎lthough this is a small group, these youth are often overlooked,鈥� Gross said. 鈥淲ithin this population you have individuals who are more likely to be Hispanic or African American and come from low-income families.鈥�

Research related to youth in foster care hasn鈥檛 always been a focus for Gross, but personal circumstances shifted his interests.

鈥淎s I became a foster parent, I realized someone鈥檚 trajectory of attaining higher education really begins as a baby,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he opportunities that children get in this country are so stratified and based on access to resources they have. This research opened my eyes in a lot of ways.鈥澛�

A third of children who age out of foster care end up homeless. So, understandably, he says, higher education is not the highest priority for social workers in the child welfare system. But, as youth formerly in foster care graduate from college, there is a greater chance of breaking the cycle of inter-generational poverty.

The grant seeks to strengthen the network of colleges and universities who offer support programs to youth in foster care or formerly in foster care. Gross and his team, including undergraduate- and graduate-level researchers, will create a data dashboard that will allow for filtering by location, school and type of support program. Gross says this will prove helpful in a couple of ways 鈥� by housing all information in one place, and by creating a centralized location for researchers to compare their work.

Taylor Shaw, a master鈥檚 student in the College Student Personnel program, is a member of the FATES research team and is excited about the project鈥檚 potential.

鈥淚 worked at a non-profit in California called ‘Together We Rise’ that coordinates different assistance projects for youth in foster care or who have recently aged out,鈥� said Shaw. 鈥淭hrough that work, I started to get a taste for how some colleges and universities do offer this type of assistance programs and how others don鈥檛. A lot of the time, students have to seek this kind of information out on their own. That is fine 鈥� if they know how to do that, but many times they don鈥檛.鈥�

Shaw says she thinks the project will be a game-changer, not only revealing where these supports exist, but also tracking what works, building a standard for assistance programs. She also is interested in using the dashboard as a catalyst for creating support programs at UofL.

鈥淜entucky currently does not have a single support program for this population at our public universities. I would love to see UofL at the forefront of that work for Kentucky youth in foster care,鈥� she said.

For more information on the team鈥檚 work, check out their twitter page @FATES_Workshop or the

Story submitted by Natalie Hewlett.

In addition to training K-12 educators to explain economics and personal finance to their students, the center will also focus on research to help families plan for and manage the cost of college.

Jake Gross, an education professor who directs the center, said its primary task will be to address social, economic and educational inequalities by helping students and their families understand the economics of higher education.

鈥淩esearch shows that too many families start saving too late for college,鈥� said Gross. 鈥淚f we can help families start earlier and better comprehend all of their financial options, there鈥檚 no doubt more people could go to college.鈥�

As an example, Gross explained that 40 percent of Kentucky high school graduates did not complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form and left an estimated $2,080 per eligible student in federal Pell Grant money on the table.

鈥淭his is low hanging fruit,鈥� Gross said. 鈥淛ust addressing these two issues could make a substantial difference.鈥�

The center was established in 1974 and has been dormant since 2011 due to personnel and leadership changes at the college. Gross and the center鈥檚 assistant director Casey George-Jackson have spent decades researching and analyzing personal finance and the economics of education. They will be the primary researchers.

鈥淲e鈥檝e completed quite a bit of research on this topic and our goal is to get it out there and make it useful,鈥� George-Jackson said.