Mature students thriving thanks to Youth Futures
More former youth in care attending post-secondary education thanks to Youth Futures Education Fund.
On June 11, 2024 RavenSong walked across the stage at Kwantlen Polytechnic University to receive her Associate of Arts degree from Kwantlen Polytechnic University. It took her 23 years to complete, and it is thanks to her incredible perseverance and the Youth Futures Education Fund.
“I’m so excited. It’ll be the first time in my life I get to walk across the stage and declare [and] receive anything for achievement. So, it’s a big deal to me, a really big deal. And I couldn’t have done it without [Youth Futures Education Fund’s] help,” says RavenSong, who is in her 50s and a grandmother to 10 grandchildren.
Age-friendly supports
Thanks to a recent expansion of the Provincial Tuition Waiver Program which removed all age criteria, many individuals formerly in government care like RavenSong who did not have the opportunity to pursue or complete post-secondary education previously are now able to do so. The circumstances and challenges older adults face are often different from those of younger students. They can be caring for young families or grandchildren, working, and also driving long distances to get to class. All these factors make it hard to pursue higher education. The Youth Futures Education Fund (YFEF) helps by providing barrier-free funds for childcare, transportation, expenses, and more.
“The removal of age restrictions has enabled older adults formerly in government care to pursue their post-secondary dreams,” says Trisha Dulku, Strategic Initiatives Manager, Community Impact & Investment at United Way BC. “Having older adults in the classroom enriches the educational experience for everyone. Their diverse life experiences and perspectives contribute to more dynamic and inclusive discussions, which matters because it encourages intergenerational learning and highlights the value of lifelong education. With the Youth Futures Education Fund, United Way BC helps students take part in a learning environment by providing the stability they need.”
“It was just amazing that that’s even a possibility. I thought I’d be denied because of my age, right? There was no ageism,” RavenSong says. “It’s actually been quite a seamless process.”
Ravensong worked with the financial aid office at KPU to get the support she needed to complete her education including YFEF, which helped her pay bills, ensure she had food, and could fill her gas tank. This gave her the peace of mind needed to concentrate on her studies.
Mature student success
“I find a big difference from when I was in school last time to this time. Last time I was easily distracted by other people, places and things. This time I was able to focus, and I really am glad I could, because there’s no way I could have done what I did this last semester without being able to focus and to just stick on it and do so many hours of studying every day,” RavenSong says. “I was able to advocate for what I needed at school this time, which was something that I wasn’t able to do as a younger person.”
When Ravensong started out all those years ago she was well on her way to getting her degree, but circumstances intervened. Government agencies threatened to take away her son who had special needs if she continued school, so she quit to take care of him and her oldest daughter. She went on to have two more youngsters and when she became an empty nester, she went back to school.
RavenSong, who is from the Deh Gáh Got’ı̨ę First Nation in the Northwest Territories, was part of the Sixties Scoop when over 125,000 First Nation, Métis, and Inuit children were removed from their homes , communities, and families of birth — often without their parents’ or band’s consent — and their subsequent adoption into predominantly non-Indigenous families across the United States and Canada.1 “I was apprehended at birth from the hospital, from my mother, who was a residential school survivor,” RavenSong says. “I call myself a 60 Scoop thriver ’cause. I’m done surviving.”
Thriving thanks to internal strength and Youth Futures
And thriving, she is. RavenSong is currently the President of a non-profit society called the Sixty Scoop Indigenous Society of British Columbia and is sharing her experience nationally and internationally.
“We support 60 scoop survivors and both sides of their families both the white adopted side and the native biological side, because we’re all one and I’m tired of the division,” RavenSong says. “We support families to integrate both ways. We also support helping Indigenous people return to their families of origin and do the connection process as well.”
“I was [recently] invited over to Saint Albert, [Alberta] to do an Indigenous Day at a school for kindergarten to Grade 12. I got to speak to 600 young people’s lives in one day. So now I know 15 years from now there’ll be 600 people in university that can say yes, we’ve had a positive experience with an Indigenous person, and they won’t have that barrier that we were fighting now, right? And so that’s why I do what I do and that’s why I’m going to schooI,” says RavenSong. “I truly believe that we can only take people as far as we’ve taken ourselves and I want to go far. I’m not done yet.” She has since enrolled in the Fall semester and hopes to complete her BA soon.
Since 2015, thanks to the generosity of United Way BC donors and others, almost 3,700 students have received over $4.4 million in vital basic living supports through the Youth Futures Education Fund so they can succeed in post-secondary education and beyond.
Learn more about how United Way BC supports former youth in care to achieve their educational goals.