The benefits of being a District resident are not abundant when it comes to goodies from the local government. We are often treated to surly bureaucrats, corrupt politicians, schools that need remedial work on curriculum and discipline, along with sketchy streets after midnight when stickup artists roam.
But one of the true rewards of living in D.C. comes by way of the Tuition Assistance Grant program. Every student who graduates from high school and gets accepted to college is eligible for as much as $10,000 a year to defray the cost of tuition. It is the only program in the nation that provides such grants.
But applying for the funds and choosing the right school is not a simple process. On Saturday the Office of State Superintendent of Education is holding a “Smart College Choice Expo” at Trinity College to guide families through the process.
Regardless of your prospects or income, hopes and dreams, if you are preparing to attend college, you should attend the expo at Trinity College.
Cards on the table: my three daughters have benefited from the Tuition Assistants Grants, so we have been through the award process. If we were novices, I would be there on Saturday.
The tuition assistance grants started in 2000, thanks in part to my friend Grant Stockdale, a great Washingtonian who died a few years ago. He lamented the fact that D.C. had no land grant colleges, as does Virginia and Maryland and every other state. With the help of Tom Davis, then a GOP congressman from Fairfax, and D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, he secured federal grants to pay up to $10,000 for D.C. students to attend state colleges — or $2,500 for private universities in D.C.
In the past few years Congress has appropriated $35 million a year, and President Obama has budgeted the same for this year. Students come from all wards and all incomes. Funds have gone to 18,600 students. Many, if not most, are the first in their families to try college. They go to Trinity and Georgetown in D.C. to Delaware State, University of Maryland, Big Ten schools and beyond.
All good, except that too many D.C. students were qualifying for the funds, starting college but not graduating. By its own figures, the superintendent of education office says just 48 percent graduated in six years; the national average is 58 percent.
“The last two years graduation rates are not what we wanted,” says Kenneth Howard, the program’s operations manager. “Just getting a kid into college isn’t good enough.”
For Howard, whose greatest joy is seeing kids from meager means get a degree, the low graduation rates are a challenge.
“It’s going to take parents, grandparents, better trained guidance counselors, high schools that truly prepare students for college,” Howard says. “We are here to help the families apply for the grants and choose the best schools.”
But the families have to show up, starting with Saturday’s expo.
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at [email protected].
