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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]hi all, thanks for your help. We live in Virginia (just outside of DC) - and she is in Virginia foster care. She is Caucasian.

My guess is she will probably come out around a 3 or 3.2 this year which will bring her GPA up to a 2.3 I think? Maybe we get it to 2.5 by the end of first semester senior year. I should also add that we discovered she had hearing loss when she came into care. So she's done most of her education without the necessary hearing aids.

My husband and I are willing to pay for college. She does get to apply for FAFSA without our financial information due to her circumstances. There are also some foster care scholarships out there that we will apply for.

Adding GMU - I love how close it is, but worried that it might be too much of a reach.

I didn't know much about UMW - I will add it. Thank you! I'm not from this area and have never had a kid go through the application process, so I am becoming familiar with the schools in the area.

I agree - I worry about her feeling lost in a school that is too big. Hoping that feeling is more apparent during tours - the feeling between a big school and a small school and we can coach her to the appropriate environment.

Community college works for us too. And we fully support that choice. I know there are two year colleges that have more of a collegial atmosphere as most of the kids are fullt time students and hoping to transfer to a four year. Any recs there would be appreciated. As a child in the system she does get free community college in Virginia.
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Hi OP, another foster Mom here. I sent a foster DS to college as well.  For your DD smaller and closer would be ideal. I am not from the area so I don’t know the colleges. I recommend summer enrichment for her, perhaps at the local community college to help her with any gaps.  It will be important to have outside help before college otherwise it could be to difficult and discouraging, especially freshman year.  It will also help with the college “feel”. In DC I believe CC has summer enrichment for HS so check your local CC.  Also if you haven’t already, work on study habits and scheduling. I am a mentor and found that my High School, now college mentee really needed help with scheduling, study habits, outlining a paper etc.[/quote]

Taking some cc classes is a good idea. She will be Pell-eligible and I think she would be able to use her Pell for cc classes the summer after she graduates from high school. I work in college access for kids who have a variety of challenges. I think 4 year residential is a good idea. Encourage a college that has strong support services. I think a college with a diverse student body would probably be easier for her-a school with one of everyone will be easier than a school full of rich kids.[/quote]

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