A Kentucky law that took effect this week makes thousands of young adults eligible for free tuition and mandatory fees at the state's public universities and colleges if they meet two conditions:

        • They were adopted in Kentucky as children or have been wards of the state there.

        • They meet entrance requirements, attend school full time and keep up their grades.

        Costs for room, board and books are not covered.

        To benefit, students must start college within four years of graduating from high school or earning their general equivalency diploma.

        Once they begin postsecondary education, their waivers are good for up to five years.

        Applicants need not live in Kentucky to apply.

        In the same way, the deal is available to men and women who were adopted in Kentucky or have left foster care there and finished secondary education in the past four years.

        Host schools will absorb the costs — possibly $250,000 statewide each year — but colleges and universities may seek state grants and or federal aid under the 1999 law to help former foster children ages 18-24 live independently.

        Ohio has no such program but the Department of Job and Family Services is looking into it, spokesman Jon Allen said.

        At Kentucky's Cabinet for Families and Children, spokesman Michael Jennings said about 490 men and women in his state's foster care turn 18 each year for the next three years. Similarly, about 169 adopted Kentucky children turn 18 each of those same years and their adoptive parents lose state subsidies.

        No one knows how many will apply for the educational benefit but estimates range from 50 to 300 each year.

        Mr. Jennings said his best estimates say that half of all American children in foster care do not graduate from high school and fewer than 15 percent go to college.

        He attributed these low numbers in part to the “severe physical and emotional disruptions” that too frequently accompany foster care. Educational waivers are “ one measure that we believe states can take” to mitigate this experience. Also, Kentucky educators long have complained that too few high school grads pursue higher education and this group is even less likely than their peers to do so.

        For information about the Kentucky program, call (800) 232-5437.

10-digit dialing is delayed
Doctors stay away because of low pay
Gas prices in region fall to lowest in months
Project will alter enclave
Butler budget needs $3.6M in cuts
Forums to focus on unrest
Mason goes to court over road project
Summer school renews hopes
Tuition offered to foster kids, adoptees
Hoop Fest offers summertime outlet
Council backs city's bid again as Olympics site
Hundreds from area make trek to hear Billy Graham
Drownings compel Red Cross to promote safety
Festival revels in the old days
Livingston says he was only trying to get OK for protest
Mother charged with attempted murder
Obscenity task force wins kudos
Phone regulation change discussed
Raid nets 5 seafood workers
Schools buying 117 acres
Taylor Mill road expansion plan to face public hearing
The Banks gets 'off the dime' today
Time Machine Tour arrives with interactive exhibits
Translators used in work death probe
Visitors get a taste of Greece at Panegyri
Kentucky News Briefs
Tristate A.M. Report