Now that our in-state tuition bill has passed the House, my goal is fast Senate passage and tuition assistance beginning next school year. I've already found a way for the UDC provision of the bill to be funded annually beginning this school year. I worked with the Department of Education to have unspent funds put in the FY 1999 supplemental budget just enacted. As a result, UDC now has the funded Historically Black University status it has long sought. The in-state tuition provision allows D.C. students to pay very low tuition rates.
Students going to private universities in D.C. or the region can get limited grants.
All that is needed to qualify for in-state tuition or private grants is admission to college. Our bill goes a long way toward equal citizenship in higher education opportunities for D.C. residents. Everybody is affected, but seniors are particularly hard hit. Medicare does not fund prescriptions. The difference on the prescriptions most used by seniors is astonishing.