Fewer than 1% of institutionalized orphans in Vietnam are attending university.

Much of the reason for such low percentages is due to the reality that the children have very little future-focused educational support in the orphanage.

• Almost none of the children have the opportunity to prepare for the college entrance exam.
• Few of the orphans “aging out” of the orphanage at age 18 successfully graduate from high school.
• It is common for children to not even give a thought towards trying to gain admittance to university.

For most orphan children university is simply perceived to be an opportunity that is out of reach.

The Program

Orphan Impact is providing college age, orphan children, from partner orphanages, with the opportunity to attend university on scholarship.

Eligible students must make a 2-year study commitment to prepare for the college entrance exam which is given to the Grade 12 students throughout all of Vietnam who wish to attend university.

Orphan Impact provides students with the exam preparation materials, ongoing tutoring, and a promise of scholarship support should the student qualify for university.

This is not a model that can be sustained once the numbers of orphan children attending university begins to significantly increase. But at the moment, scholarship support for qualifying orphan children is possible.

Test Preparation

Children in Grade 11 may begin working with Orphan Impact tutors to complete a 2-year college entrance exam preparation course. The course has been adapted from a 1-year course to provide the children extra time to adequately prepare for the exam that will take place in June of their Grade 12 school year.

Exam preparation requires a minimum of 3 study hours each week and approximately 300 study hours over the full course. Students are tested in Math, Science, Political Science, English, Geography, and Vietnamese History.

University Options

University in Vietnam costs approximately $400 to $1,500 per year.

Students must take the college entrance exam, and achieve a qualifying score, to attend university. Students taking the exam but not earning a high enough score are eligible for Junior College, a 2-year program that feeds into the local universities if the program is successfully completed.

Orphan Impact currently has tuition agreements with 2 universities (1 in Hanoi, 1 in Ho Chi Minh City) and 1 Junior College (Ho Chi Minh City). Children from one of the participating orphanages who are admitted to one of these 3 schools are eligible to receive scholarship support from Orphan Impact.