Maine Tuition Waiver for Foster Care and Kinship Youth (Title 20-A § 12572)

If the child you are raising was in a qualifying state-supervised placement at high-school graduation or GED completion, Maine law may provide free tuition for eligible post-secondary study. Room, board, books, and fees are separate costs. This benefit is one of the long-term financial supports available to kinship youth in the state.

Who Qualifies

Under Title 20-A M.R.S. § 12572, the tuition waiver applies to a person who, at the time of high school graduation or GED completion, was:

• In DHHS custody and residing in foster care or subsidized adoptive care, or
• A minor ward of a subsidized permanency guardian under 22 M.R.S. § 4038-D

The critical timing is at graduation. The youth must have been in one of these placements when they completed high school. A youth who left foster care or permanency guardianship before graduation and was not in one of these statuses at that point may not qualify.

The person must also be a Maine resident, have a high-school diploma or equivalent, and be accepted for admission to a state post-secondary institution. The waiver is limited to undergraduate degree programs or certificates of at least one year, no more than five years of full-time enrollment or equivalent, and people who complete applications for federal student aid for which they may be eligible. The waiver is awarded yearly and continues only while the student remains in good academic standing.

What the Waiver Covers

The tuition waiver covers tuition at Maine's public post-secondary institutions, subject to the program's eligibility requirements. This includes:

• University of Maine System campuses (UMaine, USM, UMA, UMFK, UMM, UMPI, UMF)
• Maine Community College System campuses
• Maine Maritime Academy

The waiver is for tuition specifically. Room, board, books, and fees may require separate financial aid — but combining the waiver with Pell Grants, HOPE Program benefits, and other financial aid can cover most or all of the remaining costs.

How It Connects to Permanency Guardianship

For kinship caregivers, this waiver is directly relevant if the child in your care, at the time of graduation, was:

1. In DHHS custody and residing in foster care or subsidized adoptive care, or
2. A minor ward of a subsidized permanency guardian under § 4038-D

A foster-care-to-guardianship pathway is not required. A private guardianship under Title 18-C is not itself a placement status listed in § 12572 and does not by itself qualify a youth for the tuition waiver.

What If the Child Is in Informal Kinship Care?

If you are raising the child without any DHHS involvement — no state custody, no foster care licensing, no § 4038-D subsidy — the tuition waiver under § 12572 does not apply. The waiver specifically requires the youth to have been in state-supervised care at graduation.

However, the youth may still be eligible for other financial aid:

• Federal Pell Grants based on the student's own income (not the caregiver's, if the student is independent)
• HOPE Program benefits if the youth is a parent or caretaker relative of a minor child and meets HOPE's age, income, enrollment, and other eligibility rules
• Institutional scholarships — many Maine colleges offer specific scholarships for students from foster care or kinship backgrounds

Planning Ahead

If you are currently a kinship foster parent with a § 4038-D subsidy agreement, the most important step is ensuring that the subsidy and guardianship remain active through the child's high-school graduation. If the child is approaching age 18, talk to your OCFS caseworker about a possible extension to age 21. The statute requires educational benefits or a physical, mental, or emotional disability, and agreement by the child, parents, and department that the need for care and support exists.

The Full Financial Picture

The tuition waiver is one piece of a broader financial support system. For the complete guide to every Maine benefit available to kinship caregivers — from TANF child-only grants and MaineCare today through permanency subsidies and college tuition waivers in the future — the Maine Kinship Financial Help guide covers the full timeline of support.

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