In 1999, the Congress enacted the D.C. College Access Act for the purpose of expanding higher education opportunities for college-bound D.C. residents in an effort to stabilize D.C.’s population and tax base. The act created the D.C. TAG Program, a residency-based tuition subsidy program, which allows D.C. residents to attend participating public universities and colleges nationwide at in-state tuition rates. UDC is not eligible to participate in the TAG Program because in-state tuition rates are already available for D.C. residents. The TAG Program also provides smaller grants for students to attend private institutions in the D.C. metropolitan area and private HBCUs in Maryland and Virginia. An eligible institution may participate in the grant program only if the institution has formally signed a Program Participation Agreement with the mayor of the District of Columbia. Students attending a participating public institution can receive a tuition subsidy of up to $10,000 per year (calculated as the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition rates), with a total cap of $50,000 per student. D.C. residents attending private institutions in the D.C. metropolitan area and private HBCUs in Maryland and Virginia may receive an annual grant award of up to $2,500 per year, with a total cap of $12,500 per student. The grant funding can be applied only to a student’s tuition and fee costs and must not supplant other grant funding that the student is eligible to receive. As a result, the tuition assistance grant must be considered as the final or “last dollar” that is added to a student’s financial aid package. Since the grant can be applied only to tuition and fees, other costs associated with college attendance, such as room and board fees and transportation costs, must be paid by other means. The D.C. government received $17 million in each of fiscal years 2000 and 2001 to implement the grant program and to provide grants to qualified applicants. As of August 2001, the TAG Program disbursed approximately $11 million for grants and administration. Consequently, the D.C. government maintains a grant balance of approximately $23 million. The act (P.L. 106-98) states that the funding shall remain available until expended. The TAG Program office engaged in a variety of publicity and outreach efforts to both D.C. residents and eligible institutions to promote the TAG Program in its first year of operation. Efforts to inform potential applicants about the TAG Program included staff visits to public and private high schools in D.C., information about the program mailed to every D.C. public high school senior, radio advertisements, and marketing posters at subway and bus stations around the city. TAG Program staff also worked with staff at the D.C. College Access Program (D.C. CAP) to provide information to D.C. public schools about the grant. The D.C. CAP is a nonprofit organization, funded by a consortium of 17 private sector companies and foundations, whose intent is to complement the TAG Program by encouraging D.C. public high school students to enter and graduate from college. D.C. CAP provides D.C. public school students with support services both before and during college, including placing college advisors in each public high school beginning in academic year 2000-01, assisting students with college and financial aid applications, and providing both information resources at D.C. public high schools and educational planning workshops for students and parents. TAG Program staff provided training and information about the grant to D.C. CAP college advisors. In order to inform eligible institutions about the grant program, staff mailed information to the president and financial aid officer of each public institution and eligible private institution. In addition, the Secretary of Education sent a letter to each chief executive officer of public higher education undergraduate institutions nationwide in July 2000, providing information about the grant program and urging institutions to sign a Program Participation Agreement with the mayor of the District of Columbia. Currently, if a grant-eligible applicant decides to attend an eligible but nonparticipating institution, the TAG Program staff contact the institution and provide information on the program as well as on the participation agreement. However, according to the TAG Program director, the applicant and his or her family often play a vital role in persuading the institution to sign an agreement with the program. In order to be eligible for the grant, an applicant must meet certain criteria, including graduation from any high school or attainment of a secondary school equivalency diploma after January 1998 and enrollment or acceptance for enrollment in an undergraduate program at an eligible institution. Applicants must also be domiciled in D.C. for 12 consecutive months prior to the start of their freshman year of college and must continue to maintain their primary residence in D.C. throughout the grant period. In academic year 2000-01, approximately 3,500 individuals applied for the grant and 70 percent, or approximately 2,500 individuals, met the eligibility criteria. Twenty-two percent of the applicants, on the other hand, were found ineligible for the grant, and about 8 percent of the applications were pending or inactive at the time of our review. The reasons for which applicants were found ineligible include not meeting the statutory requirements pertaining to graduation and domicile. All of the wards in D.C. were represented in the applicant pool. Although D.C. comprises 8 wards, most of the applicants resided in wards 4, 5, and 7, which are located primarily in the northeast and southeast quadrants of D.C. The greatest percentage of college-age residents applying for the grant came from these three wards. Figure 1 shows the percentage of college-age residents in each D.C. ward that applied for the grant. About 1,900 eligible applicants used the grant to attend 152 participating public and private institutions in academic year 2000-01. Almost half of the applicants came directly from high school, with nearly 70 percent of the applicants who recently graduated from high school coming from a D.C. public high school. The remaining applicants were already enrolled in college. Approximately 97 percent of the grant recipients for whom data was available enrolled in college full-time. Eighty-six percent of TAG recipients attended a 4-year institution, and 14 percent attended a 2-year college. Seventy-six percent of the eligible applicants who used the grant attended a public institution, with an average grant per fall and spring semester of nearly $2,900, whereas the remaining 24 percent attended a private institution with an average grant per fall and spring semester of approximately $1,200. Overall, 18 percent of the applicants attended an open-admission institution, and almost 40 percent enrolled at a public or private HBCU. Figure 2 provides more detailed information on the number of TAG recipients who attended college in each state in academic year 2000-01. Initially, the act included only public institutions and private HBCUs in Maryland and Virginia, as well as private institutions in the D.C. metropolitan area, as eligible to participate in the TAG Program. In May 2000, the program was expanded to include all public colleges and universities nationwide. Not all of these colleges and universities participate in the program, however, though they are eligible to do so. Currently, 514 public and private institutions have formally agreed to participate. Participating institutions are located in every state, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Sixty-two participating institutions are located in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Appendix II provides a list of the institutions that had signed a participation agreement with the D.C. government as of December 10, 2001. Before the program’s nationwide expansion, the TAG Program office promulgated the initial regulations for administration of the program. In the fall of 2000, four large public institutions—the University of California, the University of Florida, the University of Michigan, and the State University of New York—refused to sign the Program Participation Agreement, claiming that the regulations were overly burdensome. Subsequently, in December 2000, the TAG Program office revised the regulations, and all four institutions signed the agreement. Current proposed legislation, H.R. 1499, would make changes to the TAG Program, including modifying some of the student eligibility requirements. The bill would expand eligibility for the grant to include D.C. residents who both begin their college education more than 3 years after they graduated from high school and who graduated from high school prior to January 1, 1998, provided that they are currently enrolled in an eligible institution. Eligible applicants would be required to meet the citizenship and immigration requirements currently specified in the Higher Education Act of 1965. The bill would expand the list of eligible institutions to include private HBCUs nationwide. In addition, the bill would require the D.C. Government to establish a dedicated account for TAG Program funding and would clarify the use of administrative funding by the program office. The bill passed the House of Representatives in July 2001, and was amended by and passed the Senate in December 2001; the amended bill is currently pending before the House. The Department of Education’s Inspector General (IG) completed an audit of the TAG Program finances in August 2001. The IG’s audit provided findings in the areas of administrative funding and interest income and made recommendations to address each of these issues. Of the nearly 2,500 applicants who were eligible for the tuition assistance grant, 21 percent—or 516 applicants—did not use the grant in academic year 2000-01 and some of these applicants may have faced barriers due to college entrance requirements and the absence of minority outreach programs. Whether college enrollment caps had any impact on college access for these applicants is unclear. According to the parents who responded to our parent survey, eligible applicants did not use the grant for a variety of reasons, including decisions to postpone college attendance or enroll in an ineligible school and rejection for admission at schools participating in the TAG Program.