[House Hearing, 110 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA TUITION ACCESS GRANT PROGRAM
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON FEDERAL WORKFORCE,
POSTAL SERVICE, AND THE DISTRICT
OF COLUMBIA
of the
COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT
AND GOVERNMENT REFORM
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ON
H.R. 1124
TO EXTEND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE ACCESS ACT OF 1999
__________
MARCH 22, 2007
__________
Serial No. 110-20
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/
index.html
http://www.house.gov/reform
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37-262 PDF WASHINGTON DC: 2007
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COMMITTEE ON OVERSISGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM
HENRY A. WAXMAN, California, Chairman
TOM LANTOS, California TOM DAVIS, Virginia
EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York DAN BURTON, Indiana
PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania CHRISTOPHER SHAYS, Connecticut
CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York JOHN M. McHUGH, New York
ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland JOHN L. MICA, Florida
DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana
DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania
JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts CHRIS CANNON, Utah
WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri JOHN J. DUNCAN, Jr., Tennessee
DIANE E. WATSON, California MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio
STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts DARRELL E. ISSA, California
BRIAN HIGGINS, New York KENNY MARCHANT, Texas
JOHN A. YARMUTH, Kentucky LYNN A. WESTMORELAND, Georgia
BRUCE L. BRALEY, Iowa PATRICK T. McHENRY, North Carolina
ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina
Columbia BRIAN P. BILBRAY, California
BETTY McCOLLUM, Minnesota BILL SALI, Idaho
JIM COOPER, Tennessee ------ ------
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland
PAUL W. HODES, New Hampshire
CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut
JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland
PETER WELCH, Vermont
Phil Schiliro, Chief of Staff
Phil Barnett, Staff Director
Earley Green, Chief Clerk
David Marin, Minority Staff Director
Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of
Columbia
DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois
ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of KENNY MARCHANT, Texas
Columbia JOHN M. McHUGH, New York
JOHN P. SARBANES, Maryland JOHN L. MICA, Florida
ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland DARRELL E. ISSA, California
DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio, Chairman ------ ------
WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri
STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts
Tania Shand, Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on March 22, 2007................................... 1
Text of H.R. 1124................................................ 3
Statement of:
Fenty, Adrian M., Mayor, District of Columbia................ 6
Harrison, Deborah, vice president, government affairs,
Marriott International, Inc., corporate board member of the
District of Columbia College Access Program; and Argelia
Rodriguez, president and CEO, District of Columbia College
Access Program............................................. 18
Harrison, Deborah........................................ 18
Rodriguez, Argelia....................................... 27
O'Leary, Frazier, teacher and coach, Cardozo Senior High
School; Emyrtle Bennett, guidance director, Woodrow Wilson
Senior High School; Alice M. Boone, management analyst,
National Science Foundation, parent of D.C. TAG student,
Norfolk State University; and Randa Chappin, executive
assistant, the Heart Rhythm Society, D.C. TAG recipient,
graduate, American University.............................. 38
Bennett, Emyrtle......................................... 43
Boone, Alice M........................................... 60
Chappin, Randa........................................... 63
O'Leary, Frazier......................................... 38
Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by:
Bennett, Emyrtle, guidance director, Woodrow Wilson Senior
High School, prepared statement of......................... 46
Boone, Alice M., management analyst, National Science
Foundation, parent of D.C. TAG student, Norfolk State
University, prepared statement of.......................... 62
Chappin, Randa, executive assistant, the Heart Rhythm
Society, D.C. TAG recipient, graduate, American University,
prepared statement of...................................... 65
Cummings, Hon. Elijah E., a Representative in Congress from
the State of Maryland, prepared statement of............... 73
Fenty, Adrian M., Mayor, District of Columbia, prepared
statement of............................................... 9
Harrison, Deborah, vice president, government affairs,
Marriott International, Inc., corporate board member of the
District of Columbia College Access Program, prepared
statement of............................................... 21
Lynch, Hon. Stephen F., a Representative in Congress from the
State of Massachusetts, prepared statement of.............. 56
Marchant, Hon. Kenny, a Representative in Congress from the
State of Texas, prepared statement of...................... 36
O'Leary, Frazier, teacher and coach, Cardozo Senior High
School, prepared statement of.............................. 41
Rodriguez, Argelia, president and CEO, District of Columbia
College Access Program, prepared statement of.............. 30
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA TUITION ACCESS GRANT PROGRAM
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THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2007
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service,
and the District of Columbia,
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:08 p.m. in
room 2247, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Danny K. Davis
(chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Davis of Illinois, Norton,
Sarbanes, Kucinich, Lynch, Marchant, and Davis of Virginia (ex
officio).
Staff present: Tania Shand, staff director; Caleb
Gilchrist, professional staff member; Cecelia Morton, clerk;
and Howie Denis, Victoria Proctor, and Alex Cooper, minority
professional staff members.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. The subcommittee will come to order.
First of all, let me welcome Ranking Member Marchant, other
members of the subcommittee here, and witnesses, all of those
in attendance. You will note that some members are not here,
and you will note especially that Delegate Eleanor Holmes
Norton is not present at the moment, but, of course, the reason
she is not present is because she is on the House floor as we
speak managing the District of Columbia voting rights bill.
Hopefully, she will be able to join us.
Of course, we may very well have votes and these kind of
things that will disrupt our activity. But out of respect for
the time and schedules of some of our distinguished witnesses,
we wanted to make sure that we did not delay this hearing and
that we would try to stick as close to the schedule as
possible.
Welcome to the Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the
District of Columbia Subcommittee hearing on the District of
Columbia Tuition Access Grant, D.C. TAG, program.
Hearing no objection, the Chair, ranking member, and
subcommittee members will each have 5 minutes to make opening
statements, and all Members will have 3 days to submit
statements for the record.
I will proceed with an opening statement.
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the first
hearing of the Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal
Service, and District of Columbia, which we will hold on
District-related matters.
I am pleased to have joined Ranking Member Tom Davis and
Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton in sponsoring H.R. 1124, a bill
to extend the District of Columbia College Access Act of 1999.
The act, H.R. 1124, reauthorizes funding for the District of
Columbia tuition assistance grant, the D.C. TAG program, which
has helped to promote higher education for high school
graduates in the District of Columbia.
D.C. TAG provides grants for District high school students
to attend public colleges and universities nationwide at in-
state tuition rates. Additionally--and this is a very important
provision of the bill--it provides smaller grants for District
students to attend private institutions in the D.C.
metropolitan area and to historically black colleges and
universities [HBCUs], nationwide.
The impact of this legislation on the community and in the
lives of the students who receive the grant cannot be
overstated. D.C. TAG reaches students in communities where
there is little hope to being able to attend and afford a
college education. This is particularly true for many of the
students that participate in D.C. TAG.
Of the students that participate in the program, 58 percent
come from very low-income households. The percentage of males
participating in the program increased from 8 percent in 2001
to 41 percent in 2006. That bodes well for black males, who are
statistically more likely to end up in the criminal justice
system than matriculating at a college or university.
Furthermore, students who participate in the program are
attending educational institutions that are known to nurture
students of color. Five of the top 10 private schools that
these students attend are HBCUs: Hampton University, Morehouse
College, Virginia Union University, St. Augustine's College,
and Bennett College.
While students from all races participate in the program
and attend over 270 institutions in 47 States, including
nationally recognized public institutions like the University
of Michigan at Ann Arbor, the University of Illinois, the
University of California-Berkeley, and the Ohio State
University, it is a program that serves a community that is
starving for attention and resources--students of color from
low-income households and HBCUs.
Again I commend Representatives Davis and Norton for
establishing this program, and I look forward to hearing
firsthand how D.C. TAG has impacted students, recipients, their
parents, and outlook on life.
I would now like to ask Representative Sarbanes from
Maryland if he has any comments.
[The text of H.R. 1124 follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Sarbanes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
This is actually my first opportunity to participate in a
hearing of this subcommittee, so I am glad to be here. I am 9
weeks into this new job.
Welcome, Mayor Fenty.
A couple of things. First of all, it is District of
Columbia Day on the Hill, for the reasons that our chairman
indicated. I, for one, and I know he and others, many in this
Congress are looking forward for the District of Columbia to
have a voting representation in Congress that is so well
deserved and to allow an incredible advocate like Eleanor
Holmes Norton to take her advocacy just one level higher. As
effective as she has been without this right, I can't even
imagine what is going to happen when she gets it. We all look
forward to that.
This program, the D.C. TAG program and the underlying
legislation that we are seeking to reauthorize, is just
absolutely critical for young people in the District of
Columbia who are trying to make their way forward. It reminds
me of a documentary that I saw a couple years back which was
focusing on a dropout recovery program in the District of
Columbia.
It focused on one family where, in the generation of
cousins and brothers in that extended family of about 10 or 12
young men, all of whom sadly had dropped out of high school,
there was one young man who came back in through the recovery
program and was moving his life forward and stood ready to take
advantage of a college opportunity that was there. At the last
minute, the funding for that fell through, and when it fell
through he fell through the cracks again and ended up dropping
out.
What was so poignant about that documentary was that they
interviewed one of his cousins who had long since given up hope
that he would ever have this opportunity himself, and had sort
of vicariously put all of his hopes and dreams into this cousin
of his, and his disappointment was palpable. I remember him
saying--I will never forget--he said it would have been enough
for me in my lifetime in my life if my cousin had this
opportunity. It makes you stop and think, when young people's
aspirations are so compromised that they can't even imagine for
themselves opportunity and need to project it on to others.
This program offers tremendous opportunities to young
people in the District of Columbia. It doesn't occur to most
folks that the District of Columbia doesn't have its own State
university system, and therefore can't offer that kind of ``in-
State'' tuition opportunity that others have, and so to have a
mechanism in place that allows families and students to take
advantage of the higher education opportunity is critical.
I am very pleased to be here and be part of the hearing
today and look forward to the reauthorization of this important
legislation and look forward to hearing your testimony, Mr.
Fenty.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much.
If there are other witnesses present, would you come and
take those front seats up there, so that when we get ready to
swear people in we can swear everybody in at the same time.
We will now proceed to hear testimony from the witnesses.
Of course, should other Members come in, we would provide them
opportunity to make opening statements if they so desire.
Our first witness is going to be the Honorable Adrian M.
Fenty, who won the Democratic nomination for D.C. Mayor on
September 12, 2006. He received 57 percent of the vote and won
every precinct in the city. He served two terms as a councilman
representing ward 4. He waged a vigorous campaign, in which he
emphasized that government must serve the priorities of its
people. He unveiled his own proposal, the District of Columbia
Education Reform Amendment Act of 2007, in an effort to improve
the D.C. educational system.
We will go ahead and swear in all the witnesses who are
present, and so if you would all stand.
[Witnesses sworn.]
Mr. Davis of Illinois. The record will show that each
witness answered in the affirmative. Thank you very much. You
may be seated.
Please know that your entire statements will be entered
into the record. Of course, we use these lights around here.
they are kind of like stop, go, get ready to stop, and all
those kind of things. But the green light indicates that you
have 5 minutes in which to summarize your statement. The yellow
light means that your time is running down and that you have 1
minute remaining, and, of course, the red light means that your
time has expired.
We will now proceed and hear testimony from the Honorable
Mayor of the city of Washington, DC, Mayor Fenty.
Mr. Mayor, please proceed.
STATEMENT OF ADRIAN M. FENTY, MAYOR, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Mayor Fenty. Thank you very much. I am glad to be here on
District of Columbia Day. No two better issues we could be
discussing here on the Hill than voting rights and education,
and we thank both of you for your support on voting rights, as
well.
Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee on the Federal
Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia, good
afternoon. My name is Adrian M. Fenty, and I am the fifth
elected Mayor of the District of Columbia. I want to thank you
for calling this important hearing and for the opportunity to
testify today.
I also want to acknowledge and thank our Delegate Eleanor
Holmes Norton for her tireless dedication to the constituents
that we both share.
I am here today to express my support for the congressional
reauthorization of the District of Columbia Tuition Assistant
Grant Program, or D.C. TAG. This program deserves the continued
support of Congress for two reasons: one, because we need it;
and, two, because it works.
A little bit about the program. Simply put, D.C. TAG is a
program that helps high school graduates in the District of
Columbia go to college. It helps them go to college with the
same options as high school graduates from the 50 United
States. In the 50 States, students have the option of multiple
universities and colleges on multiple campuses. For example,
neighboring Maryland has 14 4-year public university campuses
and 16 community colleges. That is about one campus for every
180,000 residents. In the District of Columbia we have just one
campus, the University of the District of Columbia, for all
572,000 residents.
State colleges and universities are well known for
providing a quality education at an affordable price. That
price is especially affordable for students who go to school in
their home States. The D.C. Tuition Assistance Grants Program
puts higher education within reach by bridging the gap between
in-State and out of State tuition at a State university. It
provides up to $10,000 per academic year, up to a lifetime
maximum of $50,000, for District residents who have a high
school diploma and start college by the age of 24.
Other options are up to a $2,500 per academic year to
bridge the gap between in-State and out of State tuition at a
community college, or up to $2,500 per academic year to attend
a private, historically black college or university anywhere in
the Nation, or a private university in the District of Columbia
metropolitan area.
In 1999, Congress passed D.C. TAG at the urging of our own
Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton. To date, including the current
school year, the program has disbursed $154 million. The D.C.
TAG Program started in school year 2000-2001. Since that time,
more than 11,000 young people have taken advantage of our
Government's offer for help with their tuition bills.
Looking at the statistics from another angle, in the years
since the program began, the number of District of Columbia
public school students going to college has doubled. I want to
say that one more time. The number of students going to college
from our public schools has doubled. That is a phenomenal
achievement for a program that is only in its 7th year.
D.C. TAG has put our college enrollment in line with the
national average, but numbers, alone, don't tell the story of
our program's success. This is one of those occasions where my
constituents tell their own stories far better than I ever
could. I will share with you the words of Wezlynn Davis, whose
daughter Niya graduated from North Carolina Central University
last year.
Ms. Davis writes, ``We, the Davis family, have been truly
blessed by the District of Columbia Tuition Assistance Program.
I don't know what we would have done without it. I hope that
the program continues in the future and the process won't
change much, because I have another youngster who will be
attending college. He wants to be a culinary chef, and has his
mind set on it. Thank you for all you and others are doing to
make sure our black children succeed,'' writes Ms. Davis. ``It
gives them self worth and a sense of pride knowing that they
can afford to attend college. I know my daughter is happy. She
graduated on May 6, 2006, the first one of my children to do
that. I am ecstatic,'' she concludes.
Niya Davis is now an administrative assistant at Georgetown
University Hospital. Hers is just one of the D.C. TAG Program's
success stories. I ask you to imagine 11,000 success stories,
with more yet to come.
In conclusion, the District of Columbia, like other
governments across the country, has a public policy of
encouraging as many of its young people as possible to go to
college. The average male college graduate earns 70 percent
more than a male high school graduate in the United States, and
the average female graduate earns almost 80 percent more. We
need to make these opportunities available to anyone who wants
them, regardless of income.
The D.C. Tuition Assistance Program creates more
opportunities for District of Columbia students to go to
college. Of those in the program, just like Niya Davis, 38
percent are the first in their family to do so. That number is
shrinking as we enroll younger siblings in D.C. TAG, and we are
hoping 1 day to get it to zero.
We are changing a way of life for an entire generation of
young people, and I would like to call upon you, Chairman
Davis, and your colleagues to reauthorize D.C. TAG once again.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I look
forward to answering any questions.
[The prepared statement of Mayor Fenty follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. We
will proceed. We are delighted that you do have time for a few
questions.
I have never been a mayor, but I have been a member of a
city council and I have some awareness of how busy a mayor's
schedule must be in terms of trying to get around to all the
pot holes and all of the other things that exist and make sure
the trees are trimmed.
Mayor Fenty. I had a lot of hair when I was elected, Mr.
Chair.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. So I understand what it is like. But
let me begin the questioning process.
It is hard for me to imagine that any students would not
want to take advantage of the program, but can you share with
us what the District is doing and plans to do to try and make
sure that there is maximum participation on the part of
eligible students?
Mayor Fenty. Well, I think we have a situation that exists
where we are spending the lion's share of the dollars
appropriated, so I think we have shown that if money is put
there we will market the program and get students to
participate, but I think the District of Columbia is fully
prepared if this is reauthorized to make sure that even more
young people use the program. Our guidance counselors are doing
a better job every year getting people involved.
My office, through our State education officer, Debra Gist,
works in collaboration with those counselors. As we go forward,
we would love to amend and give you a real detailed plan that
shows you exactly everything that we are doing, but we are very
sufficient and very confident that the number of people in the
system can not only use the dollars, but will grow each year.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. The Government Accountability Office
did a study back in 2005, and they reported that 35 percent or
35.6 percent of the 3,094 students receiving D.C. TAG funds
failed to adequately demonstrate their eligibility. What steps
have been taken since the release of this study or this report
to verify the eligibility of individuals for the program?
Mayor Fenty. Well, in short, Mr. Chair, our State Education
Office, and I am joined by our director, our State Education
Officer Debra Gist, on my left, has made sure that we have made
the changes that we thought were necessary. Many of those
problems I think were surrounding ``applicants who had unusual
circumstances,'' and the eligibility of students with unusual
circumstances is now documented through the professional
judgment form, which has been approved and signed by the Higher
Education Financial Services director.
We think that we have not only been able to address that,
but three other major findings in the GAO audit. A lot of the
problems that were reviewed in the GAO audit study stem from
the first couple of years of the program, and it is running 100
percent more smoothly now.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. And my last question, can you think
of anything that we, as Members of Congress, might be able to
do to improve or make even more effective this very worthwhile
program?
Mayor Fenty. Well, I think in the short term a
reauthorization puts us on sound footing. We believe that the
amount that is being discussed for fiscal year 2008 is an
appropriate amount. I don't think there is any question,
though, if we want to keep the program as strong as it is right
now, in future years there will have to be some bump up.
Tuition is going up at the colleges.
More people are enrolling, as you said, as we market this
to more people, and more students, which we clearly will do.
What will happen is, if we keep it at that $35 million level,
less people will be able to use the program. So in the short
term we think a reauthorization will suffice, and we think we
have ironed out many of the details, but in the long term we
will have to slowly increase it to be able to keep the same
number of people in the program.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor.
Now we will turn to Representative Sarbanes, if he has any
questions.
Mr. Sarbanes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Just a couple of quick questions, and they are sort of
related to what you already said. Do you have a sense of
whether there is pent-up demand for the program now among high
school students that, with sufficient funding, could be
accommodated, or is there sort of this interplay with raising
awareness first before the pipeline kind of fills to the max?
Mayor Fenty. I get the sense that there probably is some
ability to put more people in, in the short term, but there is
absolutely an ability to put more people in the long term. That
is why I said to the Chair that reauthorization in the current
fiscal year at the current dollars that are discussed for
fiscal year 2008 would be appropriate, but that as we go
forward, we will be able to get more people involved.
One of the things that we should look at is, as in a place
like the University of Virginia, for example, the delta between
what the in-State tuition is and the $10,000 cap per year is
still about $6,000, so a student has to pay that $6,000 on top
of the $10,000 grant. That in the District of Columbia, like in
any urban place, could make UVA or any university that has a
similar delta between in-State and out of State tuition
unaffordable for a young person. So I think that is kind of
what we may want to address in the future years, as well as I
think there is no question we can increase the numbers.
One of the things we did today was announce that Bill and
Melinda Gates have put $112 million into sending more kids from
the District of Columbia to college. Well, those young people
very likely are going to want to go to in-State colleges also.
So we think that we can increase the numbers into the future.
Mr. Sarbanes. I thank you for that, because it is careful
when we talk about the resource question to not see it simply
in terms of being able to enhance numbers, because if we can't
cover the differential----
Mayor Fenty. That is right.
Mr. Sarbanes [continuing]. And, in fact, it is not going to
get those numbers coming in.
Has there been any evidence that the existence of the
program has--I mean, one can see where graduates would step in
the program like that. Is there any evidence that it has
discouraged dropouts in some cases because a student can see as
they are looking out 2 or 3 years down the road, here is an
opportunity that I thought maybe I didn't have, and it helps to
keep them on track and in school? Is there anecdotal or
statistical evidence of that?
Mayor Fenty. We probably could provide you a list of those
types of stories, but suffice it to say that the simple fact
that we are sending so many first-time students that are the
first in their families to graduate I think is almost anecdotal
in itself that we have some young people who otherwise would
not have gone to college. Since the program has started here in
Congress, we have doubled the number of kids going to college
in the District of Columbia. That is a statistic that is
directly tied to your continued support of the program.
I think there are other benefits, as well. Although you
represent Maryland, we are not trying to send a whole lot of
constituents your way if we don't have to.
Mr. Sarbanes. I understand.
Mayor Fenty. And people will flee the District of Columbia
if they don't have the same type of resources available. This
puts us on parity, and I think more people have stayed in the
city because of it, which is healthy for all of us, because we
want the District of Columbia to succeed for the region.
Mr. Sarbanes. Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, I note that, even though the rationale for
establishing this program is based on peculiar and sort of
exceptional characteristics of the District of Columbia,
unwittingly perhaps it can serve in some respects as a model
for what we should be doing more of with respect to offering
opportunity for higher education in this country across the
country in terms of the kinds of assistance that ought to be
offered there to help people bridge this gap, because the cost
of higher education is fast becoming a great separator in the
society at large. So the effectiveness of a program like this,
the evidence that it is working smoothly, statistics on how it
is allowing young people to make that journey forward I think
is very helpful to that larger discussion on higher education
across the country.
Thank you.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. I want to thank you so much,
Representative Sarbanes, for your comments.
Mr. Mayor, I want to congratulate you and the city of
Washington, DC, on the Bill and Linda Gates Foundation grant. I
think that should go a long way. And I will also share with you
that I was able to visit earlier today with the publisher of
the Washington Post who spoke very favorably about this program
as one of the bright signs of what is taking place in the
District of Columbia.
I will end my comments. Malcolm X said that education is
our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who
prepare today. I think that this certainly will go a long way
toward helping to prepare young people, so we thank you for
your testimony.
Mayor Fenty. Thank you.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. We appreciate your being here.
Mayor Fenty. Thank you. If you have any followup questions,
we will definitely get you information. We can't thank both of
you enough for your support for this program and for the
District of Columbia, in general. Thank you.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you.
We will now proceed with our additional witnesses. Today we
have two panels. It may very well make sense. Do we have any
additional witnesses who came and didn't come up to the front?
If so, then we would ask you to just come and take a seat up
here in these seats that are reserved for witnesses.
We will go then to our second panel. Our second panel: Ms.
Deborah Marriott Harrison and Argelia Rodriguez. Ms. Harrison
is the vice president of Government Affairs for Marriott
International, Inc. She is a member of the D.C. College Access
Program, called D.C. CAP Board. The D.C. CAP Board consists of
17 corporations and foundations that raise funds to help enable
District public high school students to enter and graduate from
college.
Welcome, and thank you very much.
Ms. Rodriguez is the president and CEO of D.C. CAP. She is
responsible for operating 18 college information centers in
public schools around the city, administering over $2.5 million
in scholarship funds each year, and providing college and
financial counseling to more than 16,000 high school and
college students and their parents.
We will begin with Ms. Harrison.
STATEMENTS OF DEBORAH HARRISON, VICE PRESIDENT, GOVERNMENT
AFFAIRS, MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, INC., CORPORATE BOARD MEMBER
OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE ACCESS PROGRAM; AND ARGELIA
RODRIGUEZ, PRESIDENT AND CEO, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE
ACCESS PROGRAM
STATEMENT OF DEBORAH HARRISON
Ms. Harrison. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and subcommittee
members. It is an honor for me to be here today before your
subcommittee to express my strong support and that of the
entire D.C. CAP Board for the reauthorization of the D.C.
College Access Act.
In 1999 the chairman and chief executive officers of Mobil
Corp., Lockheed Martin, Fannie Mae, Marriott, and the
Washington Post embarked on an ambitious program to
substantially increase the number of public high school
students in the District of Columbia who gain admission to
college and remain there throughout graduation. I would like to
stress the importance of the graduation part. We have a model
program of retention. There are others that want to copy this
program. We have higher than the national average of students
actually graduating from college, which is very important to
us.
These CEOs went out into the business community and raised
$30 million, which allowed the D.C. College Access Program to
be able to be launched, but we cannot do this without
assistance from the Federal Government, without the assistance
of the D.C. TAG program and the D.C. Access Program.
Mr. Fenty and you all have described the program very well,
and so I would like to reiterate the statistic that since D.C.
CAP has been in existence the last 7 years the number of
students has risen from 30 percent to 60 percent of those who
go to college and graduate, but there is still a lot more work
to be done. Only 9 percent of all entering freshmen into the
9th grade actually go to college and graduate from college from
the District of Columbia, so there is a lot of work to be done.
I would like to digress from the written statement, if I
may, and tell you a personal story of how I have been involved
with some real-life students and tell you how this directly
impacts real-life people.
I have been involved on more than 10 boards, most of them
non-profits, and this has been the most rewarding association
or organization that I have ever been able to be with, because
I have seen how it makes a difference in people's lives. I am
also involved with our church youth group, where we have over
200 high school students that we organize in Montgomery County
and in the District of Columbia.
Two years ago one of my girls that I have become close to
named Dominee wanted to go to college. She went to her D.C. CAP
advisor, and that is part of the program that makes this so
special is each high school has a D.C. CAP counseling center in
the schools. I would like to say that the guidance counseling
offices in the high schools are empty, but the D.C. CAP offices
are bustling and are very active and have a lot of energy.
She approached her counselor. Her counselor helped her
navigate through the system of applying to many colleges and
also helped her gain scholarships and financial rewards through
the system. She got her D.C. CAP scholarship, her TAG
scholarship, and many others, and was able to garner $22,000 so
that she could go to school.
Two years ago she was accepted to the University of
Pennsylvania, the Altoona campus. I threw my arms around her
and gave her a hug and said, this is great, you are going to
college. This is wonderful. She said, I am not going. I said,
there is no choice. You are going. Why do you not want to go?
She said that she comes from what I would call a typical
inner-city family where her mother disappeared when she was
about 3 years old. Her father has been in prison most of her
life and is a drug addict. She and her mentally retarded sister
were raised by her grandmother. She was worried about who would
take care of her grandmother and her sister. She was worried
about the extra $2,000 she would have to raise in order to go
to college. She had no support or encouragement from home to
go. She was afraid to go to college because she didn't feel she
had been adequately prepared for the rigors of university life,
and she was the first in her family to ever go to college.
I took her and two of her friends up to the university
campus and we had a tour. They showed her the dorms where she
would stay. She met her teachers. She met other students. I am
happy to say that she and her two friends are now finishing
their sophomore year at Penn State and that she is doing very
well. She is breaking the cycle in her family of poverty and of
self-defeat.
I would like to strongly, strongly encourage and recommend
a 5-year reauthorization of the D.C. College Access Act and
full funding of the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant Program. I
can assure you that this program does affect real people and
real lives and gets them out of the cycle of self-defeat and
poverty.
I am very proud to be a member of this, and I would be
happy to take any questions that I can answer.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Harrison follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much, Ms. Harrison.
We appreciate your comments and certainly you being here with
us today.
We will now go to Ms. Rodriguez. You may proceed.
STATEMENT OF ARGELIA RODRIGUEZ
Ms. Rodriguez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the
committee. I appreciate this opportunity to speak to you today.
With the passage of the D.C. College Access Act of 1999 the
same year our privately funded D.C. College Access Program was
founded by major Washington area companies and foundations, our
unique public-private partnership has had extraordinary
results. In the 7-years since the passage of the D.C. College
Access Act and the founding of D.C. CAP, our research suggests
that now twice as many D.C. public high school students go on
to college, and three times as many graduate from college
within 5 years.
These figures, while remarkable in any context, are all the
more so because the children of the D.C. public schools come in
overwhelmingly large numbers from low-income, single parent,
minority households, and are almost always the first in their
families to attend college.
D.C. CAP is unique among the Nation's college access
programs in that every D.C. public high school student is
eligible for its services, regardless of academic achievement,
grade point average, family income, ethnicity, special
education eligibility, delinquency, or criminal history. While
many other such programs establish criteria that disqualifies
some students from participation, the principal operating
philosophy of D.C. CAP is that every high school student has
the right to an opportunity to improve his or her quality of
life through a college education.
Counseling begins with ninth grade students, informing them
that college is a possibility, helping them understand the
economic and other benefits of college education. Later in
their high school careers students are assisted with
standardized achievement test preparation and administration,
college selections, admissions applications, and financial aid
strategies.
Since the inception of D.C. CAP, its high school counseling
centers have provided thousands of individual and group
counseling sessions, as well as financial aid seminars for
students and their families, administration of SAT and ACT
exams, and assistance with college educations, enrollment, and
registration.
Once accepted in an accredited 2-year or 4-year college or
university or vocational school, students from the District of
Columbia are eligible for D.C. CAP's last dollar awards of up
to $2,000 a year for up to 5 years. Not every student receives
the last dollar award, but it is based on financial need rather
than academic performance. After all other available public and
private financial assistance has been identified and obtained,
students still needing more assistance can qualify for last
dollar awards.
Since its inception through the 2005-2006 academic year,
D.C. CAP will have awarded more than 5,300 last dollar awards
totaling approximately $2 million.
A second unique feature of the D.C. College Access Program
is its continued support of students for up to 5 years of
college through their college careers. This support is not
confined to financial assistance, but it also includes
mentoring, academic and administrative support, a toll-free hot
line, on-campus visits by counselors, regular financial aid and
scholarship correspondence, college tours, and D.C. CAP campus
college representatives.
In its 8th year of operation, the D.C. College Access
Program currently funds full-time counselors serving nearly
12,000 students in 18 D.C. public high schools.
D.C. CAP has provided college retention services to over
2,000 students attending over 600 universities and colleges
around the country, and is currently providing $2.5 million
annually in last dollar award scholarships to approximately
1,200 students attending 230 colleges and universities.
A total of 8,400 D.C. public school students have been
admitted to college since the inception of D.C. CAP, and nearly
1,000 have already graduated.
With the help of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and
the D.C. College Success Foundation, we are now prepared to
extend our services to the charter schools, where more than a
quarter of D.C. students are now enrolled. We expect the
universe of college-bound students from the District of
Columbia to grow even larger in the years ahead.
Because of this important act, these achievements simply
would not have been possible without the passage of the
legislation. Under the unique circumstances of the District of
Columbia, there is no State university system available for
D.C. students, no choice of publicly financed colleges and
universities beyond the University of the District of Columbia.
These circumstances lead to the anomaly of D.C. students paying
three times as much tuition as Virginia students were required
to pay to attend the same Virginia college taking the D.C.
subway line.
With the enactment of the D.C. College Access Act of 1999,
Congress remedied this inequity and created a virtual State
university system that dramatically expanded the higher
education choices of students from the District of Columbia.
From the beginning, the legislation has enjoyed broad
bipartisan support here in Congress. Both the Clinton and Bush
administrations have recommended full funding of the D.C.
Tuition Assistance Grant, despite significant restraints on
domestic spending. Congress has appropriated the full amount of
administration requests every year, $35.2 million in fiscal
year 2006, and has routinely reauthorized the program.
Because of this legislation, because of you, D.C. students
now have not only a chance but a choice in higher education,
and they have made the most of it. Of D.C. college students, 40
percent are graduating within 5 years--still below the national
average of 52 percent, but above the 38 percent average for
African Americans throughout the country. We expect further
improvement in this D.C. graduation to as much as 44 percent
within the next year. Without the Federal tuition contribution
authorized by the D.C. College Access Act, most of these
students would not only not graduate from college, they would
have never gone to college in the first place. The financial
barrier would have simply been too high, the dream of college
education too far to reach.
You should be proud of supporting a Federal program that
actually works, and it works very well. The D.C. College Access
Act is working exactly as it was intended to work, and it is
achieving results no one would have dared predict 7 years ago.
We are grateful for your support and we are hopeful we can
count on it in the future.
Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Rodriguez follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much for your
comments.
We have been joined by the ranking member of this
subcommittee, Representative Marchant, and I will defer to him
at this moment for any comments that he might want to make and
any questions he might have for the witnesses.
Mr. Marchant. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
For the sake of time, I will submit my opening statement
for the record and apologize. The floor voting schedule got
very confused in the last 30 minutes, so I was on the floor
expecting to be voting. I apologize for my tardiness.
Mr. Chairman, I will submit this for the record.
I would just say that it is a great privilege to me to hear
this testimony from you today, both of you ladies, and that it
looks to me like this program is working very well. I am very
open to helping with the reauthorization of it.
[The prepared statement of Hon. Kenny Marchant follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Ms. Harrison. Thank you.
Ms. Rodriguez. Thank you.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much.
I will ask representative Sarbanes if he has any questions.
Mr. Sarbanes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
A quick question. Before, was the College Access Program
that was pulled together in 1999--I take it that is when it was
launched?
Ms. Rodriguez. Yes.
Mr. Sarbanes. Was it pulled together in response to the TAG
opportunity; is that right?
Ms. Rodriguez. In collaboration.
Mr. Sarbanes. In collaboration with it.
Ms. Rodriguez. Collaboration.
Mr. Sarbanes. OK. So what I was curious about is before TAG
what was the level of commitment or involvement by similar
actors with respect to moving young people into higher
education from the District of Columbia.
Ms. Rodriguez. Well, I think that before 1999 there were
many corporations and foundations who were acting in good faith
but individually. I think in 1999 really the stars aligned. The
corporations, the foundations, the city, with the enactment of
the act everything came together and we mobilized around this
specific issue. And, as you know, there is strength in numbers,
and I think that is what has made all the difference in the
world.
Mr. Sarbanes. I worked in Baltimore for about 8 years in
education. There are a number of programs, college-bound
programs that exist there. I know that the business community
and private sector is very careful about the kind of
commitments they make in public education, because they want to
make sure that they are leveraging as much as they can. I think
that what we see here is the opportunity where the public side
of this partnership was really what made it appealing to the
private sector.
Again, I think that there is a lesson in this that can be
applied much more widely than with respect to the District of
Columbia in terms of the public sector stepping in,
particularly with respect to cost, and getting part of the way,
a substantial part of the way down the road in terms of making
an opportunity available and affordable to a young person so
that then there is an incentive for the private sector to step
in and do that last dollar grant, or whatever it might be.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. I am going to forego any questions.
I want to thank both of you ladies for your testimony. We are
going to be having votes later on and we need to try to get as
many of the witnesses in as we can before votes. I really want
to thank you for your testimony. We appreciate it. Thank you
very much.
Ms. Harrison. Thanks.
Ms. Rodriguez. Thank you.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. I am going to ask if panel three
would come: Frazier O'Leary, Jr.; Dr. Emyrtle Bennett; Alice M.
Boone; and Randa Chappin.
Let me just read the introductions.
Frazier O'Leary, Jr., is a teacher and coach at Cardozo
High School. He is a consultant for the College Board in
English Language and Literature, Virtual Teams, and Pre-AP. He
has encouraged and advised hundreds of students about the value
and importance of participating in D.C. TAG.
Dr. Bennett is the head guidance counselor for Wilson High
School. She is responsible for the academic, social, and
developmental needs of Wilson students. She facilitates and
manages the college/work/career process of the student
population and has a son who recently finished law school and
was a recipient of D.C. TAG.
Alice Boone is a management analyst to the associate
inspector general for investigations at the National Science
Foundation. She is a single mother with three children. She has
one child who is a recipient of D.C. TAG.
And Randa Chappin is a single mother who graduated from the
American University with a B.A. degree in communications and
urban development in May 2005. She is the executive assistant
to the vice president of communications and marketing at the
Heart Rhythm Society and was a recipient of D.C. TAG.
It is the custom, of course, that we swear in all
witnesses. I think we have one witness who was not sworn in
with the rest, or two, Ms. Boone and Ms. Chappin.
[Witnesses sworn.]
Mr. Davis of Illinois. The record will show that each
witness answered in the affirmative.
Please know that your entire statements will be entered
into the record. We would ask that you summarize your testimony
in 5-minute statements. The green light will come on, and it
just simply means that you have 5 minutes. When it gets down to
sort of a yellow or colored-looking light, then that means that
you have 1 minute and you are expected to begin to kind of wrap
up your testimony. Of course, the red light means the same
thing that it does out on the street, and that is stop.
We thank you all so much for being here. We will begin with
Mr. O'Leary.
STATEMENTS OF FRAZIER O'LEARY, TEACHER AND COACH, CARDOZO
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL; EMYRTLE BENNETT, GUIDANCE DIRECTOR, WOODROW
WILSON SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL; ALICE M. BOONE, MANAGEMENT ANALYST,
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, PARENT OF D.C. TAG STUDENT,
NORFOLK STATE UNIVERSITY; AND RANDA CHAPPIN, EXECUTIVE
ASSISTANT, THE HEART RHYTHM SOCIETY, D.C. TAG RECIPIENT,
GRADUATE, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
STATEMENT OF FRAZIER O'LEARY
Mr. O'Leary. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon,
ladies and gentlemen.
My name is Frazier O'Leary, and I have been teaching
English in the D.C. public schools for 37 years, the last 30 at
Cardozo High School in northwest Washington.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Congratulations.
Mr. O'Leary. Thank you very much.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thirty-seven years.
Mr. O'Leary. It has been 37 years of fun.
One of my primary goals as an educator has been to try to
prepare my students for post-secondary education. Outside of
their education, there has been no greater service provided to
our students during my career than the D.C. TAG program. Since
the overwhelming majority of our students qualify for free and
reduced lunch, which is another way of saying that there is no
money available for college education in their households, the
D.C. TAG program has allowed our students to widen their
horizons as far as selection and location of colleges and
universities. It has also provided them with needed financial
assistance.
Those of you who have children who have gone to college or
have children who will go to college have faced or will face
the same question that the parents or caregivers of our
students in D.C. face: how will I pay for my child's college
education?
Your answer might sound something like this: I will use the
equity on my house, or I will take out a loan, or I will dip
into my savings, or I will borrow against my insurance policy
to take care of my child. The vast majority of adults who are
raising our children in D.C. do not have that answer as an
option. There is no equity in a one-bedroom rental or in
section 8 housing. You need collateral in order to take out a
loan. You can't dip into a savings account if there is no
savings account. Many of the parents or caregivers do not even
have life insurance. Most of our graduates who go on to college
are the first members of their family to be able to do so, and
D.C. TAG is the vehicle for this journey.
As you planned or will plan for your child's college
education, it was or will be a matter of weighing options. Put
yourself in a place where there are no options and then think
about how the D.C. TAG offers hope to the parents and the
children.
Although we spend most of our time teaching, we as
educators also spend time advising students, encouraging
students, cajoling students, and even harassing students about
the value of a college education because there is not one
student in our schools who doesn't have the same American
dream. That dream is to have a good-paying job, a home, a car,
and a family. It is the same American dream you had.
It is often said that Members of Congress are reelected
because of the care that they give to their constituents. Our
students and their caregivers have lives filled with
unbelievable everyday obstacles that can thwart the achievement
of this dream. Our students, our constituents need to be taken
care of, too.
This December Cardozo's advanced placement program will
host its sixth annual AP reunion. This event allows graduates
of our AP program to come back and talk to the current students
about college life and beyond. It is probably no coincidence
that the students who came back to our fifth reunion last
December were almost all recipients of the D.C. TAG awards.
These students, many of them in college or college
graduates or graduate students would not have been able to
reach their goals without the support of this invaluable
program. You are all officially invited to our next reunion in
December so that you can hear their stories and share their
successes.
I have always believed that public servants, teachers, and
elected officials have one primary responsibility, and that is
to advocate for those who need help.
The D.C. TAG is such an advocacy program. It has been a
Godsend for thousands of students. It has opened doors for them
that were previously shut. There is nowhere you can go in this
city and not bump into someone who has been a recipient of this
program.
We often hear words about future leaders and how they are
formed. I would be willing to guarantee that the future leaders
of this city will have been allowed to grow because D.C. TAG
provided the impetus.
Please allow the current and future students of our high
schools the same opportunity that these grateful recipients
have had and reauthorize H.R. 1124 so that future high school
graduates in our city will benefit from a program that provides
them with a level playing field and a chance to live the
American dream.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. O'Leary follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much. If I had been
young enough, I would have been delighted to be a student in
one of your classes. We appreciate you.
Mr. O'Leary. Well, you have an open invitation to please
come and talk to my students.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much.
Dr. Bennett.
STATEMENT OF EMYRTLE BENNETT
Ms. Bennett. Good afternoon Chairman Davis and
distinguished members of the subcommittee.
As a certified professional counsel for the D.C. public
schools, I welcome this opportunity to testify before the
Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the
District of Columbia regarding H.R. 1124.
To the mayor in his absence and the Honorable Eleanor
Norton Holmes, to Ms. Gist and D.C. CAP, and all the other
constituents who are helping in D.C. public schools, as a
counselor at the Woodrow Wilson High School, the largest high
school in the Nation's Capital, I am excited to be here today
in regards to reauthorization of the District of Columbia
Tuition Assistance Grant Program.
As a veteran educator of 30-plus years and a recent law
graduate, I am committed to the mission of educating and
lobbying on behalf of the students and parents of the
Washington, DC, area. I could have turned my head the other way
and stayed in the comforts of my office at Woodrow Wilson High
School, but when I thought of the students that come through my
office every day I had to be here on their behalf to plead to
you to continue your support to extend the much needed D.C. TAG
program.
I shudder to think what would happen to the lives of our
young people if we take away the opportunity for them to have
access to a quality and equitable education as afforded to
students in other States.
It would be hard for me not to say anything on behalf of
young people who had no choice of where they or their family
live, but yet deserve a better chance to higher education. I
want to speak for our students. They look up to me and expect
me to lobby on their behalf so that this funding would not be
taken away, as well as their aspirations for higher education.
As a result of reauthorization of the D.C. TAG program, you
would be providing equity and access to college to D.C. public
school students and investing in our city and the Nation.
College education benefits not only the individual student,
but also society, as a whole. D.C. youth deserve as much access
to excellent higher education as their peers in other States.
For many of our students, the thought of paying for college
over the next 4 years can be daunting and can discourage many
from even applying. However, the D.C. TAG program has made
college more attainable and provided opportunities to students
who otherwise would not have the means to pay for post-
secondary education.
As the Chair of the Guidance Department at Woodrow Wilson
High School in the District of Columbia, we have been
instrumental in helping D.C. students graduate from high school
and achieving their dreams of a college education with the D.C.
TAG. During my tenure, we have increased our student enrollment
in universities and colleges in more than 45 States across the
country and the District of Columbia. As a result of the TAG
program, there were 301 students in the class of 2006 who
headed off to college in 171 schools in 41 States, Canada, and
the Czech Republic; 336 students headed off in 2005. You are
welcome to review the remainder of our collected data since my
start at Wilson in 2002.
We believe the significant increase of college placements
from 114 in 2002 to 301 in 2006 is a direct impact of the
tuition assistance grants and of good guidance that, in turn,
rewards students with educational opportunities available to
D.C. public high school graduates.
More access to higher educational opportunities with
increases in financial aid packages and support from the D.C.
TAG will benefit our students.
The D.C. TAG has many successes. At Wilson since my tenure
I have witnessed my second college graduation of students using
the funds from D.C. TAG. For many of those students, D.C. TAG
influenced their post-secondary plans. I am proud to say that I
had the privilege of working with a former student of mine from
Coolidge High School who last year was teaching music at
Wilson. What a living testimony that is. There are many more
just like him. Many of them are here with me today willing to
share their stories of D.C. TAG support and to personally
influence each of you to reauthorize H.R. 1124.
Many of them have come back to D.C. to give back. Some are
teachers. Others are working in D.C. and the metropolitan area,
while others have chosen to return to our local consortium of
colleges and universities to study medicine, law, and other
forms of higher education. They, too, have their stories to
share, but let me share just a couple.
Shareem returns from the University of Michigan. She will
graduate in May, and she has been accepted to at least two law
schools.
Brian, a first-generation Chinese student, needed D.C. TAG
to go away to college. In turn, it gave his three siblings and
parents great joy to see their child go to college and have a
better way of life, as it also allowed the family more space in
their two-bedroom apartment.
Dwayne, a victim of gun violence in his junior year at
Wilson, would not have been able to break the cycle of violence
without his D.C. TAG and ability to go away to college in a new
geographical location, and now he returns older and wiser.
Last, my son, who is seated in the back, with D.C.
financial assistance was able to go to college and receive an
undergraduate degree, a master's degree, and will complete his
law degree in May. He has come back to D.C. energized, and he
is committing his time and talent to help students in D.C. by
running for the D.C. School Board in the May 2007 election.
Many parents of students have asked me to share their
concerns about the impact that this D.C. TAG will do if you
reauthorize it.
Again, thank you Mr. Chairman for this opportunity to
testify today before the subcommittee. I am committed to
working with each of you and the subcommittee to ensure that
this bill is reauthorized for the District of Columbia public
school graduates.
I will be happy to answer any questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Bennett follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you so much, Dr. Bennett. Of
course, yours is a living testimony. I heard you indicate that
many of the young people look up to you, and I guess if I had a
counselor with a law degree I would look up to her, also. I
always have good things to say about teachers, but I say that
counselors are the salt of the Earth. They are pillars of the
university, partly because both my wife and I worked as school
counselors and I have to keep saying that. But thank you so
very much for your testimony. We really appreciate it.
We have been joined by Representative Lynch and Delegate
Norton, and I would pause at this moment in the proceedings to
ask if either one of them or both would have some comments they
would like to make at this point.
Mr. Lynch. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Very, very briefly, I just wanted to thank you for your
willingness to hold this important hearing.
I think that, much like what is going on over in the
Capitol today on the subject of the D.C. Voting Rights, this is
really an issue that speaks directly to the fullness of
citizenship, and I certainly want to register my support for
the D.C. TAG program. I also want to speak in favor of the
increase from $33 million to $35.1 million in fiscal year 2008
that has been requested.
I want to thank all the panelists that came here today.
Unfortunately, we schedule everything at the same time, so I am
late in attending, but, as Ms. Holmes Norton will attest to, we
have been very busy today. Having registered my support for
this measure and for D.C. voting rights, in general, I think I
will yield my time to the busiest woman in Washington, DC, this
morning, Ms. Holmes Norton.
[The prepared statement of Hon. Stephen F. Lynch follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Ms. Norton. I thank my colleague for coming, because I know
what constraints we are up against, and let's think about the
next bill up is, the Iraq supplemental.
I want to offer my apologies to the Chair, even as I thank
him for making this the first hearing of our subcommittee on
this issue. The reason that we wanted this to be the first
hearing is I think probably been clear from the testimony that
has been offered.
I certainly want to apologize to all of our witnesses. I
particularly wanted to hear the witnesses who have benefited
from this bill and regret very much that those that helped them
benefit and those who have taken advantage of this bill had to
testify before I came.
I know that perhaps the chairman told you that there was
just a little mishap on the way to the vote, and Tom Davis and
I were called upon to explain to the gathered press, who would
not understand what in the world had happened, and whether the
voting rights for the District of Columbia was dead for good. I
just want to say that for sure it is not. It is a delay. You
now know what the Congress is all about--it is all about
strategy. It is seldom about the kind of substance that this
bill involves. The chairman, himself, is a cosponsor of the
bill.
You will not hear the games being played about this bill.
This bill has been thoroughly bipartisan in both houses,
haven't had the slightest problem getting it through, don't
imagine that I will. I think the major reason is that there was
a clear understanding that among the many ways the District
residents are disadvantaged is the absence of a State
university system. It has been an incentive to move out of the
city, particularly as college costs have risen, and right
across the line are two States with State university systems
containing upwards of 30 colleges each to choose from.
Worse, we know that not having a full State university
system--you can't expect the city to have that--being grateful
for our State university, but not having the full range has
meant apparently that large numbers of residents didn't go to
college at all. How else do you explain the 60 percent or so
increase in just 5 years in D.C. residents attending college? A
full range, but perhaps, above all, the full tuition. The
$10,000 is the cost of tuition at most State colleges has
spectacularly escalated college attendance in the District of
Columbia.
One thing is sure in this town: if it was a white collar
town when I was a kid growing up here, it is perhaps the part
of the United States now that most requires a college
education. Never did have a blue collar sector. The closest we
have to it is our tourist sector. To earn a decent living it is
clear that you are going to need some college, and thus the
Congress looked at that, and it looked at that when the
District was, itself, not doing nearly so well as a city as it
has been during the last 10 years or so. It decided to put its
money on education.
The investment has paid dividends to the Federal
Government, as well as to the city. I heard some of the
testimony that talked about young people coming back. There is
every reason to come back when the city has given you these
opportunities.
We are going to move this bill forward as soon as we can,
Mr. Chairman. I hope that chairman of the full committee will
move it on suspension, because it has had such broad support.
If not, we will simply put it to a vote and hope that there is
not a motion to recommit that tries to kill this one.
Our voting rights bill is not dead. It could be back today.
The only reason I think it won't be is because we have 6 hours
of debate on the Iraq supplemental. It will be back very soon.
Meanwhile, it has been a real pleasure to come to a hearing
where the bipartisan accolades about the bill have been ongoing
and have been heard in the city and where Congress has received
those accolades by continuing to support the bill, this time
with reauthorization.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much, Delegate
Norton.
I want to thank our witnesses for your indulgence. We will
now return and hear from Ms. Boone.
STATEMENT OF ALICE BOONE
Ms. Boone. Chairman Davis, Subcommittee on the Federal
Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia, I am
honored and I thank you for the opportunity to testify today.
From a parent's perspective, authorization of the D.C. TAG
program will greatly benefit D.C. college-bound students with
limited resources for obtaining post-secondary education, as it
has greatly benefited my daughter, who was awarded her first
grant in 2004, and she is completing her sophomore year this
May.
I personally value the D.C. TAG program whereby I have been
also able to maintain my household's cost of living expenses
independent from additional State support, and have been able
to provide her siblings with also a quality education for post-
secondary attainment.
Moreover, the D.C. TAG program is enabling my daughter to
complete a second milestone in her educational endeavors,
which, in turn, will afford her advantages of home ownership
after college graduation, no Federal student aid debt. At an
early age she will be able to take advantage of lower mortgage
interest rates and, based on a low debt ratio percentage her
rise to become a contributor to this economy will be soon and
at an early age.
As a parent's perspective, extension of the D.C. TAG
program would also benchmark a name for itself and D.C.
nationally. College-bound students who complete post-secondary
education but elect to establish residency outside of the
District of Columbia can acknowledge and contribute their
success to the College Access Act, which opened doors that
otherwise would not have been available to them.
Home ownership is being strongly encouraged as a national
effort, and college graduates with low Federal student loans
meeting qualifications for low-interest mortgage loans will
contribute to any economy that this country values.
Last, from a D.C. homeowner's perspective, I feel strongly
that the minority participation with the dynamics of this city
will greatly increase subsequent to the extension and
authorization of the D.C. TAG program. Low to moderate-income
family seeking suitable residence to raise a family can take
pride and would strive harder toward home ownership with
attractive amenities such as the Public Education Reform Act
Amendment of 2007 coupled with the D.C. TAG program.
Securing children with quality home life and hopes and
dreams of a college education helps communities grow.
Mr. Chairman and the subcommittee, I thank you again for
providing me with an opportunity to express my views on this
important topic. I would be happy to take any questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Boone follows:]
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Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much, Ms. Boone.
Thank you. We will get to the questions in a minute.
I would like to go to Ms. Chappin, and then I would like to
defer to the ranking member of our full committee, who has
joined us, but we will finish up with Ms. Chappin and then we
will proceed with questions and comments from our ranking
member.
STATEMENT OF RANDA CHAPPIN
Ms. Chappin. Good afternoon. My name is Randa Chappin, and
I am here to express that I simply support the efforts of the
D.C. TAG program and the D.C. College Access Act, because it
has enabled me to become the person that I am today.
As a sophomore in high school, college was not considered
an institution of higher learning for me; it was an institution
for debt creation. I did not have the funds to consider even
going for the first semester, let alone 4 consecutive years.
Something had to give, and it did. D.C. TAG was presented to me
as an opportunity to help manage the financial obstacles I was
facing at the time. The grants were a tremendous blessing to me
and allowed me to focus on my studies instead of waiting in
line in the financial aid office for a resolution that would
not come without interest.
Today I am proud to shout that I am a graduate of American
University. I continue to utilize my degree in communications
and urban development to the fullest while running a tutor
mentor program at Shaw Junior High School, the most under-
funded public school in the District. I also speak out around
the metropolitan area to teens about college and other real-
life issues. I mentor three teens personally, one of whom just
received a full scholarship to a top 10 university, and another
teen that recently placed first in her class in terms of
academics.
Without programs such as D.C. TAG I would not have such a
strong passion to help others and to make a difference in the
few lives God has allowed me to touch.
I am continuing to work and reside in the District, and I
feel that this will always be my home.
Allow me to begin and provide you some perspective of the
mental state I had when approaching the idea of higher
learning. With the grades that I had ranging from average to
above average, coupled with the lack of advanced learning
opportunities, I did not expect to go to college and explore to
attain greatness. I expected mediocrity, and all the while I
knew better. I knew what heights I could reach and how the
burden of how I would get there would always cloud my thought
process.
It is truly amazing how expensive a college education is
becoming. It causes one to return to the never-changing focus
of the haves and the have-nots. I consider myself to be richly
blessed and, while I needed that extra push that D.C. TAG
provided, I am more so concerned and saddened by the thought of
those who have more dire conditions to deal with.
Why should the burden and cost of financing college be
affixed to the unsuspecting student? It is my personal opinion
that is not fair. No one is keeping the public and private
institutions of higher education from trading a degree for what
seems like an endless supply of debt.
The D.C. TAG program afforded me the opportunity to focus
on my studies. It may be a mere $1,000 to some students, but
for the students like myself who are restricted from their
classes, sent to the hell that is the registrar's office, the
financial aid office, and the student accounts office, for
those students who don't have the parental cushion of their
counterparts, for those young parents such as myself, and those
other young adults, D.C. TAG offered a financial stress-free
resolution like no other. D.C. TAG's friendly and cooperative
personnel furthered my newly optimistic outlook on the
plausibility of a higher education. The facts, as I saw them,
were that college costs equate in monetary range from a low-end
three-bedroom house to a new condominium downtown.
Also, most of today's students and their parents are first
pointed out to high-interest loans as a financial aid
resolution, and if you are a young parent, as I am, you have no
chance of going and graduating from college. This is the state
of mind of young people in this area that I know firsthand
about, that I have cried with them, and I have gone through the
obstacles that they have faced, speaking at the different
seminars and what not.
I won't take any more of your time to further explain what
is already seen; however, please be mindful when you are making
your decision that the lives that you affect today are the
lives that will be running your corporations, your government,
and other entities tomorrow.
I took my grant and I finished college at American
University and my life is spent working on somebody else's
behalf in order to move them further along in their life. This
is what I do with my time. You have an opportunity to continue
the change that has already been set forth in 1999, and I hope
you will take it.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Chappin follows:]
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Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much. I want to thank
all of our witnesses.
As I indicated, we have now been joined by a primary
sponsor of this legislation and the ranking member of our full
committee, Representative Tom Davis. I would defer to him for
any comments that he might have at this time.
Mr. Davis of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much.
Let me thank our witnesses for being here, as well.
In a little-noticed rule change, one of my last acts as
chairman of the full committee, I added a provision that any
chairman of a subcommittee bearing the title District of
Columbia would have to be led by a member named Davis. While
this gives both parties the widest possible discretion, I am
pleased that you, Chairman Davis, have been so named.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you.
Mr. Davis of Virginia. Thus we have the nomenclature
continuity here in our Nation's Capital.
We have traveled a long road since the Access Act, from
March 1, 1999, when it was introduced until the present day.
The road took us through the predecessor subcommittee that I
chaired at the time to the full Government Reform Committee, to
the House and Senate floor, and then the White House where
President Clinton signed the measure November 12, 1999.
In all of its legislative approvals, the College Access
Act, now known as the Tuition Assistance Grant Program, was
passed unanimously by voice vote. President Clinton had
included sufficient money in his budget submission that year
and a statement of administration policy endorsed the approach
we had taken to authorize the use of those funds.
I am very proud of our hard bipartisan effort in enacting
this measure and its reauthorization 2 years ago.
My thanks to Ms. Norton, who was the ranking member in
1999, who has worked tirelessly to enhance the legislation ever
since.
I also want to thank my then-counterpart in the Senate,
George Voinovich, for his continuing support, and Senators
Warner and Durbin for working with us to improve this
legislation.
The 5-year reauthorization legislation before us today will
enable District residents to continue to attend colleges and
universities at in-State rates. President Bush, in his budget
submission for fiscal year 2008, has included sufficient funds
to make this happen. Then-Mayor Tony Williams and now D.C.
Mayor Adrian Fenty have both strongly supported this law as
being very important for the District's high school graduates.
As documented to this subcommittee, the graduation rate for
public school students in the city has doubled since this law
went into effect, and we are now incentivizing people to stay
in school and to go to school afterwards. It was just a
generation ago where some D.C. high schools sent more kids to
Lorton Reformatory than to college. We changed that. We changed
it a kid at a time, and this act has played a very important
role.
This is a classic leveling of the playing field. No city or
county in the country is required to supplement its in-State
rate with local funds, and neither should the taxpayer in the
Nation's Capital be saddled with the burden. Neither should the
city be penalized for its own success in administering this
program.
Back on March 4, 1999, when I introduced this bill, I went
to nearby Eastern High School with Ms. Norton. I was deeply
moved by the reaction of the students. I will never forget how
many kids took our hands, looked us in our eyes, and thanked us
for introducing the original bill. I am proud of what we have
been able to do in the capital city since 1995 when the city
was literally bankrupt. Economic development, public safety,
the real estate market, and so many other aspects of city life
have changed for the better, but nothing has given me more
satisfaction than working to improve educational opportunities.
Fighting for equal education opportunity is one of the reasons
I think most of us entered public life.
You need a healthy city to have a healthy region.
Reauthorizing this law which has expanded higher educational
choices is an enormous step forward, and it is a strong part of
our vision for the future.
Again, I just want to thank our witnesses for coming and
sharing with us your stories today.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much, Representative
Davis.
Now I would like to go to Representative Sarbanes to see if
he has any questions of this panel.
Mr. Sarbanes. I don't have a question. I just did want to
react to Mr. O'Leary's initial testimony, though, in terms of
presenting. We talk obviously in terms of what it means to the
young people to have this opportunity, advantage, but it is as
equally important for the families, because it represents
whether the promise of the American dream is real or
illusionary to them.
I had the opportunity about 6 months ago to speak with a
woman at one of the MARC train stations in Maryland who was on
her way to her job in the District of Columbia. She wanted to
talk to me about the cost of higher education, and she looked
me in the eye at one point and she said, without any sort of
bitterness or recrimination, she said, I did everything they
told me I was supposed to do. She said, my husband and I worked
three jobs between us, we saved our money, and we told our
children that if you work hard and you study you can make it.
Now we can't afford to send our three children to college.
In that moment I think she was expressing the frustration
of an increasing number of families in this country, which is
we thought that if you played by the rules and you worked hard
you could make it here. Then they find out that there is
something, they just can't get there. They can't get across
because usually it is the financial aspect of it.
So this program is obviously critical in helping to bridge
that, and the testimony that all of you provided I think simply
reinforced that notion in terms of opportunity.
I said it already twice, Mr. Chairman, but I will say it
again: I think that this program in many ways can model the way
we approach and enhance opportunities for higher education
across the whole country. The concepts that are in place here
don't have to be restricted to the District of Columbia.
Although obviously the District of Columbia has a special claim
on this kind of a program because of its unusual circumstances,
the concepts here are more widely applicable.
Thank you for your testimony.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you very much, Representative
Sarbanes.
I will go over to Representative Davis and see if he has
any questions.
Mr. Davis of Virginia. Ms. Chappin, let me start with you.
You are a graduate of the program. You understand it. If you
look at your classmates taking advantage of this, without this
do you think a lot of them would have been discouraged from
even applying to college and going forward because the costs
were just out of reach?
Ms. Chappin. Absolutely. There is no question whatsoever.
The amount of scholarships that are out in even our local
colleges right now are diminishing, and a lot of them are
academic, and a lot of us just have average grades, so the
grants that didn't hold you to 4.0 all 4 years or the grants
where you didn't have to be almost destitute in order to be
able to go to college, these programs, they give you that
financial push that you need, and they also give you the
counseling, that reciprocity that you need between being a high
school student and an adult, just saying that these are your
options and lay them out on the table. So absolutely, all of
them would certainly be able to go forth and even view college
as an option. Five years ago I can't say the same.
Mr. Davis of Virginia. I think out in our area it has
opened it up to some of our historically black colleges in
Virginia--Virginia State, Virginia Union--others, as well as
our community colleges out there in northern Virginia where you
just get a more complete college choice instead of what you
were offered before at this stage. The facts speak for
themselves, the number of kids that are seeing their way
through to graduate from high school and then the numbers that
are going on to higher education. Ultimately, if you want to
change the city you have to give the young people the
opportunity. Hopefully this is working and this continued
reauthorization will continue.
I appreciate everybody sharing their perspectives here.
This should be one D.C. bill that goes through unscathed as we
move through the process, but even in the past we have had
problems with people putting holds on them in the other body
and the like, and so it is important that we build the record
here.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Thank you, Representative Davis.
I now go to Ms. Norton and see if she's got any questions.
Ms. Norton. As it turned out I did get to hear two of you
testify. I apologize that I was not here for the first
testimony.
Of course, it is hard for me to think of a bill that has
been more important to the District of Columbia than this bill.
All you have to do is go talk to your constituents and say D.C.
TAG and everybody rises and applauds before you get ``TAG'' out
of your mouth. I compare it only to the home buyer's tax
credit. One kept people in the city, kept people from moving
out, and the other says if you are going to live here you had
better be educated, and I will be darned if D.C. residents
didn't take the cue and come forward in huge numbers.
I would just like to ask, Ms. Chappin, I don't know when I
have been more impressed than I have just by your testimony,
the way you presented it and the way you have answered
questions. I mean, you are a walking example that I think says
it all, and somehow we ought to record you and let you speak
for the bill.
Ms. Chappin. Thank you.
Ms. Norton. I would like to know a little bit more about
yourself, because I read your testimony, heard your testimony.
The candor of your testimony, the sincerity of your testimony
is striking. You didn't say where you went to high school.
Ms. Chappin. I am sorry. I went to Woodrow Wilson Senior
High School.
Ms. Norton. You did go to Wilson.
Ms. Chappin. Yes. I stayed all in the Northwest, that
corridor. I went to Horace Mann Elementary School, which is off
of New Mexico Avenue in Northwest. I went to Alice Deal Junior
High School, which is off of--I don't remember the name of the
street. And then I ended up at Woodrow Wilson, graduated a year
early. I was able to go to Howard University for a year, and
then I transferred to American University to finish my studies
because Howard didn't have the focus that I was looking for,
because I know communications is a strong point of mine and I
love to talk, but the urban development aspect----
Ms. Norton. I will say communications is a strong point of
yours.
Ms. Chappin. The urban development aspect. And one thing I
just wanted to share with you, I find a lot of students, even
in the D.C. area if you open it up to Maryland and Virginia,
they feel that we are told that, get a good education, get a
good education, education is the key, that is what you have to
do, but then we are not given the resources that we need to get
a good education.
Even when I was in high school at Woodrow Wilson and I was
placed in remedial classes because the AP classes I tested into
were full, and paperwork, they didn't realize that until
November into the school year, so I was placed into a remedial
class. By the time I got to college I had to catch up
tremendously, and I thought I was doing well. I got an A in
remedial math. Well, of course, who can't get an A in remedial
math? I am sorry.
All I am saying is that we are told so much, and it is
drilled into us that education is where we have to go with it,
and it is so much talk and it is not enough action. We find
that we are not supported in aspects of just getting a good
education. We find that we are not supported in remaining in
D.C. Our school system needs improvement, and it is kind of
like how do you start when you are already two steps behind.
So programs such as this kind of made up for the difference
and kind of put you at the same ground level, and it was your
choice to either move forward or stay where you were.
I am happy that a lot of our participants in the D.C. TAG
program and the D.C. CAP program, D.C. LEAP recipients, all of
those participants are those that have the passion to move
forward and not stay stagnant.
Ms. Norton. You went to two private colleges in the
District, both of them private, meaning you got a grant that
was not as high as a public grant. This is the way many States
do it. If you go to a private college you get considerably less
than going to the State university. So that meant you had to
put your college access grant together with other funds. How
did you find other funds? What kind of funds are available for
someone like you who wants to go to a private college and does
not want to take advantage of the $10,000 grant?
Ms. Chappin. Well, in order to make it to the private
college I held down three jobs the whole duration of my college
career. I also obtained other scholarships from other private
organizations and I honestly just wrote letters to almost
everybody that I could think of saying hey, I would like to
finish school, can you help me out. I was able to obtain
scholarships from all of those other organizations. And there
is also the Pell Grant. That is also very appreciated.
Ms. Norton. The cobbling together of funds that virtually
every student does today, one way or the other--some may
qualify for some and not others--makes college education
possible for everybody. Of course, if you live in a city that
doesn't have a State university system it becomes more
difficult, which is the reason for TAG.
You indicated that you were employed at the Heart Rhythm
Society.
Ms. Chappin. Yes.
Ms. Norton. Where is that located?
Ms. Chappin. That is located at 14th and K in Washington,
DC, mere blocks from the White House, I believe.
Ms. Norton. What do you do for the Heart Rhythm Society?
Ms. Chappin. I am the executive assistant to the vice
president of communications and marketing. The organization
basically holds a lot of scientific sessions, and they are a
group of professionals geared toward increasing information,
advocacy, and just overall aspects of those professionals who
work in cardiac rhythm issues, so whether that is sudden
cardiac arrest, ICDs, all of those great things.
Ms. Norton. Did you have any difficulty finding employment
once you graduated? How long were you unemployed?
Ms. Chappin. I was unemployed----
Ms. Norton. Well, when did you graduate?
Ms. Chappin. I graduated in May 2005, and I was unemployed
for probably, I want to say about 14 hours after I received my
degree.
Ms. Norton. How come? How were you able to get a job so
quickly?
Ms. Chappin. Pounding pavement.
Ms. Norton. It doesn't look like you pounded much pavement.
Ms. Chappin. Well, I was already looking. The only reason I
graduated in 2005 and 2004 was because of a missed class, so I
was already sending out resumes and what-not with the
understanding that I was going to graduate in the winter of
2004. Came to light, had to take that last class, and I had
offers available to me, and I graduated Mother's Day on 2005
and I began work that Monday.
Ms. Norton. So, notwithstanding the considerably higher
unemployment rate among District residents, you did not have
any difficulty finding employment once you had your college
degree?
Ms. Chappin. None whatsoever.
Ms. Norton. You went through in 4 years without stopping?
Ms. Chappin. Not at all.
Ms. Norton. Well, Mr. Chairman, again, I appreciate that
you have reached out to find a student who could speak for
herself about the value of TAG, because I think she has said it
all.
Thank you. I yield.
Mr. Davis of Illinois. Well, thank you very much, Ms.
Norton.
We want to thank all of our witnesses, those who are still
here and those who testified earlier. I think that you make a
compelling cases, as well as demonstrate a tremendous amount of
interest in higher education. I know that all members of this
subcommittee appreciate your coming and spending time and
sharing not only your experiences but also your thoughts with
us.
All of this is very timely because, as you can see, we are
about to have a vote, and so it is an excellent time.
I also want to thank our staff for pulling together the
hearing.
Again, we thank you all for coming.
This hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:45 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
[The prepared statement of Hon. Elijah E. Cummings
follows:]
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