The Education and Training Voucher (ETV) Program was originally created in 2001 with the passage of the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Amendments of 2001 (PSSFA of 2001). Eligibility was expanded in 2008 with the Fostering Connection to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act. The purpose of ETV is to provide financial assistance for post-secondary training and education to youth who have aged out of foster care or who have left foster care after age 16 for kinship guardianship or adoption. If students are “enrolled in a postsecondary education or training program and are making satisfactory progress toward completion of that program,” states have the option to continue their participation in the ETV program until the student reaches age 23.

The amount of the voucher and the education facilities for which it may be used is further defined by the Higher Education Act of 1965 (as amended).  Several key definitions are provided in the Higher Education Act.