Fewer than one in 10 foster kids who go to college will obtain their bachelor’s degree, but that didn’t stop 25-year-old Rona Lin Frank of Texas from beating the odds.
The Houston-area woman refused to become a statistic, graduating with a psychology degree from Texas Southern University this month, Fox 26 Houston reported.
Frank was bounced around from different homes throughout her young childhood, going between different relatives until her brother reported poor treatment she received from her mother to Child Protective Services (CPS).
CPS ended up removing Frank from her family’s care and placed her with different foster homes.
After one foster situation sadly didn’t work out, the girl finally found her way to her mother she says was “born into my heart.”
“The one that I currently have. that has been my mother who was born into my heart, I like to call her. You know, we aren’t blood, but we are bonded by the situations that brought us together,” Frank said of the foster mother that took her in and pushed her to pursue her education.
While more than 80 percent of fostered youth report want to go to college, only 2-9 percent who attend college receive a bachelor’s degree, according to a 2017 Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board study.
The 2023 graduate attributes her academic success to the help from her new mother.
“You know, I feel like not everybody can say that they had a good experience, but I feel like mine was not the worst one that you’ll come across,” Frank told the local outlet. “You know, coming from the circumstances that I did come from, I can say that they were pretty rough. But I can say that I feel like essentially I ended up where I was supposed to be because that changed me as a person in a positive way.”
The 25-year-old said she was influenced to pursue psychology by her experience in foster care.
Frank said she had a psychologist who also helped her achieve beyond her wildest dreams.
“So I feel like the people in my life kind of helped me shape what my career would look like for me, like what I wanted it to look like. So I feel like psychology was the field for me because I really do have a passion for helping people,” she explained. “I feel like ever since I got help as an individual, I feel like that’s a calling for me as well because I feel like I take pride in that. I take joy in that, and I really do like to see other people succeed.”
She tells other kids in foster care to not “give up” and “take full advantage” of opportunities.
“Your circumstances and your situation that landed you into care is not your fault. You know, you can’t feel guilty about the things that have happened in your past. It does not mean that you have to give up on life as well, does not mean you have to give up on an education either. There are a lot of resources out there that can help former and current foster youth, and you have to take full advantage of it.”