Norton DCTAG Roundtable with Students and Parents, Tomorrow
WASHINGTON, DC – Tomorrow, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will hold a roundtable discussion on the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant (DCTAG) program. The event will highlight the program as new students and parents come forward for the upcoming college year. The panelists will include a cross section of D.C. parents and students who have benefitted from DCTAG. After the panelist presentations, the roundtable will receive stories other residents may have on their DCTAG experience.
WHO: Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC);
Students who are currently receiving DCTAG;
Parents of current DCTAG students;
Parents of DCTAG graduates;
Current high school students who will use DCTAG;
Parents of students who will use DCTAG;
Graduates who used DCTAG and are now working
WHAT: Roundtable discussion
WHEN: Tuesday, March 18, 2014, 6:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m.
WHERE: 2203 Rayburn House Office Building
BACKGROUND: President Obama’s recently released fiscal year 2015 budget proposes the highest appropriation ever for DCTAG, at $40 million, a $10 million increase over the fiscal year 2014 enacted level. DCTAG, which Norton got enacted in 1999, provides up to $10,000 annually toward the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition at public four-year colleges and universities, and up to $2,500 annually toward tuition at private colleges in the D.C. region, Historically Black Colleges and Universities nationwide, and two-year colleges. DCTAG has doubled college attendance among students from the District, and is considered by many experts to be the most important workforce development program in the city. Every Republican and Democratic President has supported, and most often increased, DCTAG funding since it was enacted in 1999. Twenty thousand students have been educated with DCTAG funding since its inception, and 5,000 D.C. students are attending college today with DCTAG, two-thirds of whom are from low-income families. The number of students applying for DCTAG has increased every year, yet no eligible student has ever been denied funding to attend a DCTAG-eligible institution.
The unprecedented amount Norton got in the President’s budget follows a letter Norton sent to the President last month to reiterate her request that he fully fund DCTAG, especially in light of the D.C. Council’s approval of the D.C. Promise bill, which, according to House and Senate appropriators, could risk the future of DCTAG funding.
Published: March 17, 2014