The University is attempting to build another bridge across the Potomac by participating in a new federal program that allows residents of Washington, D.C., to pay in-state tuition at public colleges across the country.
The $17 million D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant (D.C. TAG) program, begun in 1999, is open to all residents of the District who enroll in college within three years of graduating from high school or earning their GED. To receive a grant, the student must have graduated from high school after 1997, making current fourth-year Washingtonians ineligible.
The program is designed to help students in the nation's capital obtain an inexpensive public college education outside of the offerings provided by the University of the District of Colombia, D.C. TAG Director Laurent Ross said.
"We want to provide opportunities for underprivileged students in Washington to attend college and also to say to parents that you don't sacrifice the opportunity for your child to get a good, affordable public college education by living in D.C.," Ross said.
But several public universities around the nation, including the University of Florida, the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and the University of California system, will not join the system until their concerns about the program's administration are worked out.
But the University is enthusiastic about attracting more students from the nation's capital, especially those from underprivileged backgrounds.
"We think the program is terrific," said Yvonne Hubbard, University director of financial aid to students. "Finally the government is putting its money where it says it will -- in education."
The federal program will pay the difference between in-state and out-of- state tuition -- up to $10,000 per year and not exceeding $50,000 total. This year 3,200 District students are participating in the program.
Ross said the number of grant applicants was spread almost evenly among Washington's eight wards, or districts. The ward with the most applicants is the predominately black, middle-class Ward 4 with 22 percent of the total. But Ward 1, a district with a high concentration of Latino residents, supplied only 7 percent of the recipients.
"Hispanics are historically less likely to go to college than whites and blacks. We need to redouble our efforts to reach that population of Washington," Ross said.
Last year, 37 undergraduate students from Washington, D.C., were enrolled at the University. This year the figure has increased to 45.
Despite the tuition break, D.C. residents still are considered out-of-state-students and therefore face more rigorous entrance requirements than in-state applicants.
"The transition from high school to college is like an obstacle course," Ross said. "We're trying to remove the first psychological barrier that says 'I can't afford to go to college."
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