Forged By Scholarship Funding & Fostering Ram Success Program, ASU Student’s Degree Comes Full Circle
By Nate Ziegner
Miles Bailey is no newcomer to hardship – his journey in the pursuit of higher education has been filled with roadblocks. His perseverance embodies the strength of students supported by Chancellor’s Council scholarships.
Born in Virginia, Bailey’s parents lost custody of him at age 12, relinquishing him to the foster care system for two years. During that time, Bailey said he felt many of the parents and families he had been entrusted to were not in it for the right reasons and believed he was being used to boost their own moral stature.
After bouncing through the foster care system, Bailey was eventually placed with his aunt and uncle in Abilene, Texas, a major cultural shift from the eastern United States he knew. After graduating from high school in Abilene, he decided to move back to his home state for college and enrolled at Virginia Tech to study computer engineering. Financial problems soon arose.
“In the foster care system, one of the big things they tell you is you get a tuition grant which is a waiver that covers your tuition for a four-year program,” Bailey said. “Because of some issues that arose when moving between states, I didn’t end up receiving the waiver and, instead, received a ridiculously large bill of around $50,000 a semester.”
After exhausting his options trying to obtain aid, he withdrew from Virginia Tech. But for Bailey, this couldn’t be the end. His dream was to attend college. After heading back to Texas, Angelo State University (ASU) in San Angelo immediately caught his eye. Once again, he encountered financial barriers – that is until scholarships opened new doors.
“I can tell you, there have been plenty of times I would not be able to afford things like books or even get to campus reliably, without access to these funds,” Bailey said.
The support goes far beyond just being able to afford attending college, he added.
“Mentally, it is so hard to find the drive to go for something when it feels like everything is against you,” Bailey said. “Knowing that someone else has your back is something that is a driving force for you to want to pursue your dreams, and that is something the scholarships really make me feel.”
That feeling – and support – has changed the trajectory of his life, pushing him to make the switch from his studies at ASU in computer engineering to psychology. He also has become involved in Fostering Ram Success, an ASU program for students who have foster care experience or are unaccompanied students. Serving as a student assistant within the program, he has helped others with similar upbringings form social bonds and gain personal and life skills.
“Seeing him open up and be able to help the kids who were like him is just amazing,” Fostering Ram Success Program Coordinator Candace Aguirre said. “I know he is going to do great things.”
After reconnecting with the caseworker who helped him navigate his pre-teen years through the foster system, Bailey decided to pursue a master’s degree in social work and is considering something that, without financial assistance, was never in his realm of possibilities: pursing a doctoral degree. Ultimately, he plans to work for Child Protective Services (CPS), using the knowledge he has gained and the experiences he has overcome to enact policy change in the foster care system, and shifting the trajectory for children in the same place he was at age 12.
“At the federal level, I want to make sure CPS is working on getting the resolution that the child wants, not just what someone thinks might be the best fit for them,” Bailey said. “Working with students at Angelo State, seeing their struggles and connecting them with resources is something that has brought to light that I am in the right spot.”
Bailey is now an intern with the ASU Behavioral Intervention Team (BIT), where he intercepts and aids in solving student concern reports on-campus. Drew Peterson, former BIT Coordinator and Bailey’s first supervisor when he obtained the position, said Bailey has used his past to go above and beyond when it comes to meeting those reports with empathy and efficiency.
“He wasn’t intimidated at all by the work, reaching out to people or talking to people – he didn’t have any of that at all,” Peterson said. “He was already experienced with reaching out to people, but that combined with his background – he’s been through a lot and come out the other end really well – seems to have shaped him to be tailor-made for social work.”
Peterson said it is refreshing to see Bailey take his hardship and make it into such a success story. In fact, Bailey had so much of an impression on him, following Peterson’s move to work in the State Supported Living Center, he told Bailey to reach out post-graduation for potential social work positions.
Bailey said he knows none of this would be possible without the scholarships and support he has received while at ASU.
“I simply wouldn’t have gotten here without the support I’ve had,” he said. “There are people out there willing to help, to provide money to a student they may never meet. It shows there are people who really care for me. The way they made me feel by getting me through school has helped me find what I really wanted to pursue. I want to give that to others.”
Fostering Ram Success Seeks to Empower Unaccompanied Students
At Angelo State University (ASU), Bailey is not the only student who has had to overcome the hurdle of low familial support on their educational journey. Fostering Ram Success meets those students where they are, providing tools to achieve future excellence.
Program Coordinator Candace Aguirre had heard of Fostering Ram Success when she was obtaining her undergraduate degree and upon seeing the impact resources could have on these students, began to revamp it when she started in 2021.
“Previously, it was more of a ‘raise your hand and we can help you’ situation, and I didn’t want that,” Aguirre said. “At that point I knew I needed a list of former foster youth and unaccompanied students, which came out to be 15 or 20. I knew that wasn’t right, there was no way only 20 students at Angelo State have had some kind of foster care experience, so that’s when I started asking questions and diving deeper.”
Aguirre said in doing her research to find students, she realized there were so many more in the same situation as post-foster care scholars and began expanding the program to serve homeless students and those who never had a stable permanent guardian, bouncing from family member to family member.
After obtaining a completed list, Aguirre said the financials were the next challenge. As she was the first full-time employee overseeing the program, there had been no stable income source in the past, until the San Angelo community stepped up.
Thanks to fundraising events and community donors, Aguirre said students in the program have access to experiences and opportunities that are crucial for their collegiate years. The program was able to open a lounge stocked with computers, class/study material, board games and TVs where students have a safe space to engage with others in similar situations.
New funding also has allowed those students access to basic necessities such as food and hygiene products, ensuring they are adequately maintaining both their physical and mental health.
For Aguirre, the most impactful part of the program is showcasing to the community that these students are not asking for a lot, many of them just need help to meet their basic needs.
“My first year in December, we had a realty company ask if they could help put something on for the students for Christmas, they wanted to do almost like a Christmas giving tree. They sent out a questionnaire asking students for a want and a need,” Aguirre said. “The response they got back showed these students aren’t asking for the moon and the stars; they asked for cases of water, grocery store gift cards or even gas money so they can get to campus.”
Aguirre said that due to overwhelming donor support and outreach, the program now has enough funds to give student benefits for the next four-to-five years.
“These donations solidify that people know these kids are working really hard and are wanting to be a part of the 3% of foster kids who obtain a degree,” Aguirre added.
As of now, the program serves around 150 students on the ASU campus and Aguirre hopes it will only continue to find others who are in need and grow.
“We are working really closely with the Department of Safety and Professional Services to intercept incoming students who qualify and showcase what we can do to meet their needs,” Aguirre said. “We really just try to create a home for them.”