Tim Pippert, Augsburg’s Joel Torstenson endowed professor of sociology, and Graduate Assistant Savannah Mitchell recently highlighted Augsburg Family Scholars on the “Aging Out Podcast.” Created by the University of Pennsylvania Field Center for Children’s Policy, Practice, and Research—the podcast explores the pathways, resources, and relationships that empower older youth in foster care as they navigate the journey into adulthood.
Pippert developed Augsburg Family Scholars for young people with foster care backgrounds to find community and support on their education journey. In the podcast, Mitchell highlights the Fostering Independence Grant, an initiative in Minnesota that pays for the cost of college tuition for students with foster care experience to reduce disparities faced by this population when pursuing higher education. Augsburg Family Scholars’ holistic approach provides financial resources, academic mentoring, and community building to student participants.
“Augsburg Family Scholars works here because it takes an entire campus to do this really well,” Pippert says in the podcast. “We work with admissions. When admissions sees a student who identifies with having a foster care background, they let us know so we can reach out to them. When students have an issue with financial aid, we send them to WonWon Bjorklund in student financial services, and WonWon answers their questions, not a random person behind the counter. When we have an academic advising issue, Julie Froslan Ferralez takes care of it. Julie advises all of our scholars. Like WonWon, like Stephanie Ruckel and Stacey Severson in Admissions—they’re just wonderful people.”
Listen to Episode 11 of the 2026 Field Center Aging Out Podcasts.