Supporting students with experience in foster care

Text on screen: [Supporting students with experience in foster care.]

Ruby Barclay, child and youth care student, Vancouver Island University:

Someone told me about the tuition waiver program at VIU, and I otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend university without financial support. And so I was encouraged to apply, received the acceptance letter – best day of my life – and through that have been able to learn so much more about who I am as a person and my role in community and social responsibility to my siblings in care, that I now work with students with lived experience in care as well.

I’m going to be optimistic about this, because I love to be optimistic about it and I have to be in this line of work. And I think that the more that we engage in conversations about innovative approaches to supporting our economy to be more resilient, one of the focuses of our federal government right now, I’m hoping one day that there’s a national strategy for anyone who’s experienced government care anywhere in Canada to be able to pursue education at any university within Canada as well.

Text on screen: [Universities Canada logo.]