Guardian Scholars expand support as graduation lags

At Sacramento State, a Guardian Scholars office that feels more like community than paperwork is growing fast—from 52 students in fall 2021 to 248 in fall 2025. Yet program data still show many students are not graduating within expected time frames, underscor

On a late February afternoon in Sacramento, a dozen or so students—current and former foster youth—filed into an office at Sacramento State for a financial aid workshop. The promise was simple and bold: learn how to “get that bread and get ahead.”

When Guardian Scholars Program coordinator Gina Bryan projected scholarship information, one young man broke the silence. “I’m gonna get some money!”

Not everyone was there with the same confidence. Some said they’d never applied for scholarships and didn’t know how. Others said they feared being rejected, or felt intimidated by the essay requirements. Bryan walked them through the process anyway. leaning on bread-making metaphors and jokes to break down what she called complicated steps. Then she addressed the mindset she knew many of them carried—even if they wouldn’t say it out loud.

“You’re capable and worth investing in,” Bryan told the students. “You’re not asking for a handout, you’re claiming a resource.”

It is exactly the kind of support that has helped Guardian Scholars programs spread across the country, designed for one group with some of the lowest odds of college completion and stable employment: former foster youth. But even in a program that’s expanding, the graduation gap remains stark.

Former foster youth—people who have spent time in the child welfare system. typically due to abuse or neglect—have some of the worst college graduation rates of any demographic group. One analysis cited estimates that 8 to 11 percent of former foster youth earn any college degree. compared to 49 percent of adults overall. Experts attribute the struggles to instability and trauma experienced growing up. inadequate academic preparedness. and a lack of social and emotional support systems in college.

For Rebecca Louve Yao, CEO of the National Foster Youth Institute, the most visible difference is the presence of someone who understands the unique needs of students like these.

“It makes a big difference when students have ‘somebody on campus that really understands the unique and complex needs of former foster youth. that’s helping former foster youth build community with each other and find resources on and off campus. ’” Yao said. “That’s where the Guardian Scholars programs really work.”.

Sacramento State’s program is one of hundreds modeled for the same purpose. The first Guardian Scholars Program began in 1998 at California State University, Fullerton, funded by philanthropy. The model then spread to all California State and University of California campuses. and colleges around the country adopted similar programs.

In parallel, the federal government created its own support stream. In 1999, it established the Chafee Foster Care Program to help youth aging out of foster care access grants for college and other postsecondary training.

This federal attention comes as lawmakers push new proposals. Earlier this year. lawmakers introduced a bill to increase the Chafee program’s education and training vouchers from $5. 000 to $12. 000 per year. with some restrictions. Another bill introduced last fall proposed establishing a fund of $50 million annually to expand career training and apprenticeship opportunities for former foster youth. along with a study of the child welfare system and the resources currently available.

Last fall. President Trump issued an executive order calling for. among other things. the creation of an online platform where young people formerly in foster care can find resources related to education. job training. housing. health care and other basic needs. It’s unclear what the status is now. The federal Administration for Children and Families is developing the platform and has gotten input from advocacy groups and former foster youth throughout the process. and Trump gave ACF until May to create the platform.

Neither the $50 million fund bill nor the bill that would more than double the annual maximum Chafee grant have progressed since they were introduced.

Back on campus, the Guardian Scholars office at Sacramento State is working with what it has. The program, created in 2006, is funded by a combination of private and public dollars. Students receive special scholarships, help paying for textbooks, and priority registration for campus housing and courses. The Guardian Scholars office provides advising and holds events such as a financial aid workshop. and students are required to attend two advising sessions and two events every semester. For students who need quick cash for immediate needs—replacing a broken laptop or traveling to see an ill relative—the office offers emergency grants.

The scale is growing. At Sacramento State, the program has expanded from 52 students in fall 2021 to 248 students in fall 2025. Ram said the growth is largely due to a boost in state funding for programs at California State schools in 2022. which also allowed her to more than double the office’s staff from two to five. Ram recently left Sacramento State for a job at a local nonprofit.

Last fall, the university launched another step meant to reduce barriers: a program that guarantees admission to former foster youth as long as they graduated from high school with a GPA of 2.5 or higher and completed the A-G requirements across seven subjects.

Yet the graduation timeline still looks unforgiving. Data from the university shows that of 11 students who entered the Guardian Scholars Program as freshman in 2019. one graduated within four years and five graduated within six years. Eight of the 12 former foster youth community college transfer students who enrolled in 2021 graduated in four years. and eight of the 25 who enrolled in 2023 graduated in two years.

Sacramento State President J. Luke Wood said he’s proud of the program’s growth, but wants much more.

“We’re nowhere near where I want to be,” he said. “I’m happy for where we’re at, while being incredibly dissatisfied by where we’re at, too.”

The gap between support and outcomes shows up in lived experience. Ram said that despite the resources the program provides—including priority housing registration—many students still have to work one or two jobs to pay for living expenses, which might slow them down or cause them to stop out.

In her effort to build an on-campus home for students, Ram tried to make the office feel anchored in everyday comfort. She stocked the cabinets with healthy snacks and pasted inspirational quotes around the office’s main space, and often had quiet, calming music playing.

Now the space carries a different kind of presence, too. When the office door is open, it’s possible to hear someone—often President Wood—playing a donated piano in the building’s foyer. Wood’s office sits just one floor above the Guardian Scholars Program, and he says that isn’t an accident.

Wood, who joined the university in 2023, grew up in foster care after his mother relinquished him and his twin brother. Eventually, he and his twin brother were adopted by a foster family. After high school, Wood enrolled at Sacramento State. There wasn’t a Guardian Scholars-type program then. but he found mentors on campus and went on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Since becoming president. Wood moved the Guardian Scholars office from a small space across campus into its large. bright room on the first floor of the administration building. Students stop to chat while he plays the piano. join in singing. and sometimes he brings out a blue acoustic guitar that lives in the Guardian Scholars office.

Jarred Holloway, a 26-year-old business major, taught himself to play classical guitar in the eight years since he aged out of care. He said he learned Beatles songs because Wood likes them.

Holloway went into the foster care system when he was 13, bouncing between foster families and group homes. During that time, he attended three different high schools and said he had few adults encouraging him to prioritize education—let alone college.

“It felt like sometimes you’re just looked at like ‘Oh this person is not really going to go anywhere,’ ” he said.

Eventually. with support from people he met through his church. Holloway enrolled at Cosumnes River College. a two-year college in Sacramento in Sacramento. He joined a group for students from historically underrepresented backgrounds and another group for former foster youth. where he learned about financial aid opportunities and other supports for higher education.

When he transferred to Sacramento State, he immediately got involved with Guardian Scholars. Over time, Holloway said he began to feel he had more control over his education.

Last summer, he marked a milestone when he landed his first internship, at a local credit union. “I was like, ‘Finally, I’ve put in so much work and effort and here I am,’ ” he said.

Still, for many students, the road to college is tangled with basic needs insecurity. Before arriving at Sac State. Christiano Quinones. a 28-year-old junior. dropped out of high school. aged out of foster care. and worked as a pastry chef in Southern California. A co-worker mentioned a program offering two years of free tuition toward an associate degree for first-time college students.

Quinones earned his GED, received an associate degree from Fullerton College, and then transferred to Sacramento State.

He had housing lined up, but it fell through. Last fall. he and his partner slept in their car when they were broke or in hotels when they’d saved enough money between their financial aid refunds and jobs. Over winter break. Quinones worked with Ram and Bryan. the program coordinator. to get into a dorm for the spring semester. and he had to take out student loans to pay for it.

Even with those barriers, Quinones said he’s found moments to enjoy himself. The Ticket to Dream Foundation. a nonprofit. provides Guardian Scholars participants with box seats at Sacramento Kings games and major concerts. In late February, Ram took Quinones and eight other students to see Cardi B. Quinones said it was his first concert.

“It makes you feel like you belong. It makes you feel like you’re a part of society,” he said. “It’s pretty to see us all together having fun, you know, acting like humans, laughing.”

Bryan. who was herself a Guardian Scholars student about a decade ago. said students are often too preoccupied with dwindling time and resources to enjoy the present. or they use living in the present as an escape from preparing for the future. She said she encourages students to focus on their growth. strength and resilience—traits she said can help them reach their goals.

“It really has to be about sustainability,” Bryan said. “How can we slow you down to enjoy stuff about the present while making sure you have resources and aid that’s going to help with long-term success?”

Yao said that the proposed online platform of resources could reduce uncertainty. She said former foster youth often aren’t aware of all they’re eligible for. don’t know about the different deadlines to apply for resources. and face a practical problem: the busy social worker whose job it is to help them figure it out is only available during normal business hours.

For now, the burden of support continues falling on campus-based advocates like Bryan—and on students helping students. Since arriving at Sacramento State. Holloway has worked off and on in the Guardian Scholars office. helping out with events like the financial aid workshop. He said he’s passionate about making the office a community space where former foster youth can take their minds off challenges and simply have fun.

He spends a lot of time in the center even when he’s not working. Sometimes he does homework; other times he plays Mario Kart on a Nintendo Switch between classes or noodles on the blue guitar. “When you have a family, and if you sit down with your family, there’s connection. There’s joy and playing together and working together and having fun,” Holloway said.

In the end, Holloway said it’s not the entertainment that matters most. “It’s more about the space than it is about the game,” he said.

In a country that has begun promising new investment and easier access to resources for former foster youth. Sacramento State’s Guardian Scholars program shows both what help can do—and what it still can’t fully outrun. The office may grow. scholarships may expand. admissions may be guaranteed under specific requirements. and emergency grants may be available for broken laptops and urgent travel. Yet the data on graduation timelines and the accounts of car sleeping. hotel nights. and late student-loan decisions keep returning readers to the same hard truth: stability is not something a scholarship can always deliver on its own.

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