Nicola defied 'a really sad statistic' to get to uni. She wants it to be easier for others like her

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With only 1 to 3 per cent of foster care leavers achieving higher education, university was never something Nicola Berry considered.

The universities have also introduced scholarships and bursaries for care leavers and made it easier for care leavers to self-identify, in turn making it easier to link them up with support.

"That can be like an engagement program where [care leavers] might come onto campus and see what life at uni can be like; looking at different accommodation options and different study options; and just getting a bit of a taste for it," says Nicola, who also works for the Raising Expectations project.

"Because a lot of these children will be the first in their family [to attend higher education] and they won't know what life will be like." There's an urgent shortage of foster parents in Australia, so let's dispel some myths about foster care.The number of care leavers enrolling in study at both La Trobe and Federation University increased from 40 to over 200 students in three years.Today, at the age of 25, Nicola is also studying a Bachelor of Human Services and Master of Social Work at La Trobe University.

She says as she worked and travelled after finishing school, she met people who had studied at TAFE or university and they"demystified the higher education system".

 

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Shouldn't foster kids be grateful just to be alive and to have had someone take them in. The idea that everyone, regardless of circumstances, should be able to achieve equally is.....commy gobbleygook

Surely the genetic & epigenetic legacy of their dysfunctional parents plays a big role too? Sure it is nice to run a social experiment to see if you can uplift the disadvantaged but if part of that is innate you are operating in denial of that reality. Who funds this, taxpayers?

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