(2/21/98 Baltimore AFRO-American Newspaper)
by Congressman Elijah E. Cummings
In Baltimore and throughout this nation’s cities, so many families live with little or no hope of sending their children to college. The vicious cycle of poverty must be broken if we ever expect upcoming generations to become this country’s future leaders.
In response to the growing number of poverty-stricken children and marginally-funded schools in their districts, President Bill Clinton recently announced his support for a new $140 million education program called the "High Hopes 21st Century Scholarship Initiative."
The High Hopes program has three major objectives: Assuring families early that college for their children is within reach; building college-school partnerships that would provide children with mentoring and support services; and, monitoring those children’s progress as they matriculate through high school to ensure that the students stay on the path to college.
We all know that it takes a substantial amount of money to attend college. Children who do not have the money are often less motivated and less determined to do well in school. That’s why, through this program, low-income families would be notified of their financial aid eligibility when their children are 10 and 11 years old. The Department of Education would send them an official certificate outlining a combination of federal aid tailored to fit each family’s finances. This would include Pell grants, low-interest loans and work study. That means even children who are marginally better off than their classmates would be able to take advantage of the program. Furthermore, the bill would assure students of at least $2,700 a year in grant money for four years.
Federal financial aid would be guaranteed to these students to help defray the cost of tuition if they gain acceptance to college. To meet that goal, of course, young students must stay in school, study hard, get good grades, and pass the college entrance exam. Other similar programs have shown that financial assurances given early in children’s educational careers, motivate them to excel in school. Such assurances also provide children with hope that today will lead them to a brighter tomorrow.
High Hopes also would encourage partnerships between degree-granting institutions and middle and junior high schools in which the proportion of families in poverty exceeds 75 percent. As a result, young students would be given information about what it means and what it takes to succeed in college. These partnerships would offer support services such as mentoring, tutoring, college visits, summer programs, after-school activities, and counseling. They also would help ensure that these children have access to secondary school courses that will help them prepare for the rigor of college life.
This new initiative would be flexible, allowing partnerships to design their own programs based on local needs and resources. However, to be most effective in increasing college attendance among low-income youth, the partnerships would continue to provide help through the high school years and not just at the junior high school level. This program would be set up with the understanding that all children in a poverty-stricken school are affected by its condition; however, encouragement and support received at an early age can be the key to a child’s success later in life.
High Hopes is designed to reach this nation’s poorest children. Those middle and upper income families who do not have to rely on federal funding for their higher education needs would fail to qualify for this initiative. Federal grants account for at least 25 percent of college tuition for poor students. Yet middle and upper income households depend on grants for only 1 to 2 percent of college financial aid.
Over the next five years, the program plans to reach one million students nationwide in more than 2,500 middle schools located in urban, rural and suburban communities. Through this effort, families would be given a fighting chance to break the cycle of poverty. This means that many children could be the first in their families to attend college.
Successful programs like Head Start have aided in an across-the-board decrease in teen pregnancies and drug use among youth. High Hopes would follow Head Start’s lead by giving youth a reason to set their expectations high.
Instead of having young people living life day to day without planning for their futures, this education program would help one million children realize that there are positive life-enhancing opportunities at the end of the rainbow.
Students and their parents should plan to attend our "How to Pay for College" seminar, which will take place from 6:00- 8:00 p.m. on February 23, 1998, in the Fine Arts Building of the Baltimore City Community College, 2901 Liberty Heights Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland. Representatives from the various military academies, colleges, universities, and financial aid agencies will be available to share information concerning many financial options. I look forward to seeing you as we join in our efforts to uplift the lives of our children.
-The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings represents the 7th Congressional District of Maryland in the United States House of Representatives.