First Lady Melania Trump and Louisiana State University (LSU) have secured $5 million in philanthropic donations to establish a permanent endowment fund for students from foster care to attend LSU.
The fund is part of the first lady’s Fostering the Future initiative, launched in 2022 and focused on supporting young adults aging out of the foster care system as they prepare for college.
It is also part of the Be Best campaign she launched in May 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first term to focus on children’s well-being.
Roughly 400,000 children are currently in the U.S. foster care system, and about 20,000 age out each year without a permanent family, according to the Education Department.
Data from the National Foster Youth Institute shows that just 55 percent of young people in foster care earn a high school diploma, compared with 87 percent of the broader population. Fewer than 5 percent go on to complete a college degree, largely because of insufficient support.
Employment outcomes are also weaker. By age 24, only about half of former foster youth are working, versus roughly 75 percent of their peers. Those who do find jobs typically earn less than young adults who were never in the system.
Estimates further indicate that around 20 percent of youth who leave foster care become homeless after aging out.
The donation creates lasting scholarships at the university.
The first lady will travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to formally launch the program from campus on Nov. 7.
During the visit, she is scheduled to attend the LSU Tigers versus Alabama Crimson Tide football game at Tiger Stadium.
This marks the latest step in the first lady’s ongoing Fostering the Future work. In August, she hosted a White House event to announce $2 million in scholarships for foster youth as part of the initiative.
The scholarships, funded by IndyCar and Fox Sports, were to support students at Indiana and Purdue universities.
“The greatest achievement investment [in] America can make is not in technology, infrastructure, or capital markets; it’s [in] our children,” she said at the time from the redesigned Rose Garden.
“Our mission is simple yet transformational: Provide every young person from the foster care community the chance to earn a college education, launch a meaningful career, and achieve lasting financial independence.”
In June, the administration also introduced savings and investment accounts for children in foster care. The first lady and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled the Fostering the Future Accounts, extending the Trump Accounts model providing each newborn with a $1,000 tax-deferred investment start to children in foster care.
“Fostering the Future Accounts give foster children the same chance for asset ownership and long-term wealth building as every other American child,” President Trump said at the time. “By investing in our foster youth now, we help strengthen America’s workforce, communities, and economic future.”
The wider effort traces back to an executive order President Trump and the first lady signed at the White House in November 2025, aimed at strengthening foster care support nationwide. It seeks to expand education, career, housing, and other opportunities for young people transitioning out of foster care into adulthood.
“This executive order, fostering the future for American children and families, gives me tremendous pride,” the first lady said at the time. “It is both empathetic and strategic. It will certainly be impactful.”
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