Colorado State University Vet Prep program helped former foster kid beat the odds

Alex McFarland had a hard time in school when he was a kid. His priority then was figuring out how to survive an abusive stepfather in the home.

When he was 12, he nearly stopped attending school altogether. He didn’t want to, and no one made him.

The next year, McFarland, now a student at Colorado State University, went into foster care. People didn’t want to adopt an older kid, McFarland said, so he stayed in the system until he was an adult.

“I was frustrated, depressed and suicidal,” he said. “It felt like no one wanted me.”

His school building in Dayton, Ohio, was two double-wide trailers converted to classrooms where he got handed packets to fill out and didn't learn much, McFarland said. He stopped attending those classes, eventually got his GED and got a job at a pet store.

Colorado kids in foster care have similar stories.

In 2017, fewer than a quarter of kids in foster care graduated high school on time, far below the statewide graduation rate of 81 percent, according the Colorado Department of Education. 

College graduation rates for former foster youth paint a stark story as well.

About 10 percent of foster youth in the U.S. enroll in college, according to the National Center for Child Welfare Excellence. For those like McFarland who age out of the system, about 3 percent ever earn a college degree, according to the National Foster Youth Institute.

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McFarland, now 28 and in his third year in CSU's competitive Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Program, is a rare success story. 

He got involved with foster care advocacy when a group approached him wanting to change the outcome for foster kids. He figured he’d use his voice to help other kids as much as he could. He provided testimony on a variety of bills in Ohio aimed at changing the system.

A the same time, McFarland discovered he really loved working at the pet store. 

When he was a kid, he had a dog named Samson. The boxer had behavioral problems and used to chew things up, McFarland said, so his stepdad would beat him a lot. Sometimes he’d blame McFarland for the mess Samson made and beat him, too. 

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Helping animals became a way for McFarland to break the cycle. He started to see college that way, too. 

"I knew I wanted to go to college early on, because in many ways I saw it as freedom from repeating the mistakes I had seen many around me make," McFarland said. 

He thought getting a degree from the local community college might prevent him from becoming homeless, he said, so he started there, in Ohio.

It was hard for him to make it to class, make rent and make it to work on time. He failed a lot of classes, he said, but stuck with it. He learned how to study. Eventually he graduated with an undergraduate degree in biological anthropology and zoology.

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McFarland decided he wanted to be a veterinarian.

“I loved working with animals, so I wanted to go to vet school,” McFarland said. “People told me I shouldn’t, because it’s competitive and expensive.”

He applied anyway, to Colorado State University, as well as universities in Oregon and Washington. He initially got rejection letters from all three.

He was disappointed — until he found out he got accepted into CSU’s Vet Prep Program.

CSU helps level the playing field

Each year, CSU can choose up to 10 applicants to admit into its Vet Prep program. Students can’t apply for the program, and the university doesn’t advertise it much.

But it can be life-changing.

Gretchen Delcambre, director of veterinary admissions, said typical vet students are those who got perfect grades and excelled in school.

Vet Prep, she said, is geared toward giving students who may have experienced some disadvantage in their lives.

Those disadvantages can include economic factors, such as a history of low income prior to college entrance, educational factors such as inadequate early education because of frequent school changes, lack of exposure to academic role models, or cultural factors, such as being raised in a family where English is a second language and more, according to CSU’s website.

The Vet Prep Program, which started in 1997, helps level the playing field for those students.

“If I can imagine that candidate didn’t have that barrier in their life, would they be as competitive as the other applicants?” Delcambre said, adding that, if that’s the case, that student may qualify for the program.

When students are selected, they participate in a one-year program designed to get them used to the course load and expectations of veterinary school. Students take classes such as anatomy and physiology to help lighten the credit load for the coming year. They also get a $10,000 scholarship and in-state tuition.

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“That’s the only way I could afford it,” McFarland said. “I can’t call home and ask my mom to pay my rent.”

Though students have gone through undergraduate training by the time they're accepted into the program, Delcambre said professional school is a lot more rigorous. The extra year gives them a chance to know what to expect.

The program gave McFarland the support he needed. 

“Alex was chosen because he was at an educational disadvantage, but he made an educational comeback,” Delcambre said. “He’s a proven leader now and he really fought for what he wanted.”

Supporting foster students

CSU launched the Fostering Success Program in 2010 after a couple of graduate students and staff saw a need. It started with folks putting together care packages for students who’d identified themselves as former foster youth.

Fostering Success has expanded to serve emancipated students, orphaned students, homeless students and more who don’t have a safety net, said Becky Villalpando, the program's director of outreach and support programs.

Since launching, the program has served at least 480 students.

Sometimes that's as simple as helping students navigate financial aid forms.

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Sometimes it means helping with emergency housing, Villalpando said. Sometimes students don’t realize dorms close over fall break or over the summer and they don’t have a home to go to. She’s heard of some students sleeping in their cars.

“They don’t have family support,” Villalpando said. “They have to make their own way.”

Students have needed emergency rent assistance, too. In those cases, Villalpando said the program helps students figure out how to avoid that situation again.

The group also offers a space for students to get to know peers who can relate to them. They won’t ask why someone isn’t going home for the holidays because they’ll understand, Villalpando said.

That kind of support can be crucial for students, McFarland said.

A promising future

Since McFarland began his college journey, he’s traveled to Borneo to work with primates, interned at the San Diego Zoo and more. When he was kid, he never thought he’d leave the Midwest.

Over the summer, he worked with exotic animals at CSU's Veterinary Teaching Hospital. He helped feed a rabbit called Gray Bunny after surgery. He helped treat a gecko suffering from complications due to dry skin.  

McFarland isn’t as involved in policy work as he used to be. He doesn’t want that to be his only identity. But he does want to use his voice to speak up for others — humans and animals alike — the way he wished someone would have for him when he was a kid.

"Also, if I am being honest, I cannot wait to hold a baby orangutan or polar bear," McFarland said.

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