Norton to Hold D.C. National College Fair, Tuesday

Click here to access the event flyer.

WASHINGTON, DC -- The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will host the 2011 D.C. National College Fair,Tuesday, October 18, from9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Exhibit Hall C, 801 Mount Vernon Place NW. This year's Fair is held in conjunction with the DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education, and will provide students and parents an opportunity to meet one-on-one with admission counselors from a broad spectrum of colleges and universities, including the military academies—Army, Air Force, Navy and Merchant Marine. Current students and recent graduates of the four academies will be onsite to share their first-hand experience as students. The Fair will also provide information on the opportunities available to finance a college education during a recession.

"We cannot afford for parents and students in this region's high-end, white collar economy to give up on college," said Norton. "Our college fair will not only put college-bound students and their parents face-to-face with admission counselors, from hundreds of colleges and universities, but will also provide valuable information to help them finance their education."

Among the colleges and universities represented at the fair will be many from the 300 that D.C. students already attend on the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant (DCTAG), secured through Norton's bill. Norton has made special efforts to increase college attendance in the District. In 1999, Norton's D.C. College Act became law, creating DCTAG, a program that provides higher education opportunities for D.C. students equal to those available to other Americans, by granting up to $10,000 annually for in-state tuition at most public colleges, and up to $2,500 annually to attend private institutions in D.C. and the region. DCTAG has doubled college attendance rates in D.C., now up to 60 percent, which is ten points above the national average, has served 14,458 D.C. students over the last decade, and provided $219 million in tuition grants to more than 300 colleges and universities nationwide.

DCTAG is a substitute for a state university system in the District, which, unlike every state, has only one public university, the University of the District of Columbia. Last year, the Congresswoman got $10 million for the District's new community college, the Community College of the District of Columbia, in the House version of the D.C. appropriations bill.

The service academies are unique in providing not only full tuition, but also a stipend for living expenses and room and board to attend some of the best colleges in the country. Norton has asked the service academies to bring the usual recruiters, as well as actual students and recent graduates, who can give a real account of what it takes to gain admission to an academy and what life is like on a military base.

For more information and to pre-register for the college fair, visit www.dconeapp.dc.gov.

WHO: The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education, College Recruiters, Admissions Counselors, and Financial Aid Advisers

WHAT: 2011 D.C. National College Fair

WHERE: Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Exhibit Hall C, 801 Mount Vernon Place NW

WHEN: Tuesday, October 18, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and from 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.