MS Senator says foster students denied FAITH scholarship will have funding for school

MISSISSIPPI (WXXV) — Families across Mississippi have been searching for answers after learning that 170 foster students were denied their FAITH grants—full-ride scholarships for students who have spent time in foster care. Now, they may finally have some hope.

These students have been forced to reconsider their schooling options after unexpectedly learning—just weeks before classes begin—that they will not receive the funding they had been counting on, as the money had run dry, but Senator Scott DeLano says there is some good news for those students.

“We’re very happy to say today that it looks like all 170 of these students that were sent those denial letters will have an opportunity to go to a college or university, community college, here in the state of Mississippi,” said Sen DeLano. “We’ve had incredible partnerships that have stepped up with all of our community colleges, all of our IHL units, both on the public and private side, that have stepped up to make this school a reality – this opportunity a reality – for these foster students.”

Along with support from several Mississippi colleges, state legislators have partnered with the Woodward Hines Education Foundation, which has committed funding to help those foster students. Though, at this time, the amount is unclear.

Sen. DeLano says those partnerships will ensure that affected students have access to funding, however, he notes that the full details are still being worked out.

“It’s unfortunate that we’re in this situation, but what is good is that we have a number of students that are wanting to go to college. We’re gonna try to do everything that we can to make sure that they’re going to be able to go to school in the fall,” he said. “When we come into the legislature in 2027, we will address these issues and do deficient funding for the other students that are gonna continue through the spring of next year.”

He says the funding shortfall is the result of recent changes to the program’s eligibility requirements, which expanded access for foster students and led to a surge in applications across the state.
Sen. DeLano called this situation a “failure” and says that while the issue cannot be fully resolved until the 2027 legislative session, he plans to continue working with state leaders to find a solution and prevent this from happening again in the future.

“There have been some failures along the way, but I think that it’s gonna be up to the legislature to work with IHL and the Office of Student Aid to streamline that process. Make it a little bit easier for students and address these issues that have come up, but there’s no excuse for what’s happened,” said Sen. DeLano. “We need to make some changes to make sure that we don’t have this occur in the future.”

If you or someone you know is affected by this funding shortfall, contact your office of financial aid and reach out to Sen. Scott DeLano to find out what options are now available.