The University of the District of Columbia may be the city’s flagship college, but around these parts it goes by a different nickname: the 13th grade. Ninety-six percent of students entering UDC’s community college — most hailing from the District — require remedial classes in at least one core area. But as funding and legislation have focused on improving DC Public Schools and charter schools, top UDC officials say it’s unfair that the college’s budget has remained mostly flat.

“Given the overwhelming number of our students who need to make developmental progress, we are in fact an extension of DCPS, and to the extent that the city is committed to funding DCPS — which it rightfully is — we perhaps need to be included in that particular funding stream, so we want to be a part of that,” said Jim Dyke, a member of the university’s Board of Trustees and its former chairman.