A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Good morning. It is a pleasure to be back with all of you again. Thank you Dr. Dolores Spikes for that kind introduction. I also want to thank Dr. Wesley McClure, and Dr. Henry Ponder for once again offering me this opportunity to be with you. I'd also like to recognize the members of the President's Board of Advisors and the current and previous chairmen of the board, Dr. Earl Richardson and Dr. Lloyd "Vic" Hackley, for their continued leadership throughout this administration. Finally, let me acknowledge the executive director of the White House Initiative, Catherine LeBlanc, and her staff for their hard work.

I know that tomorrow you are scheduled to hear from President Clinton, but I wanted to extend my own gratitude on behalf of this administration for your leadership and your support on so many different issues over the last seven years.

Your efforts on all of these issues-from the very successful Direct Loan program to the Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act-have made a real difference in the lives of your students and all students across this nation. Of course, this is not a time to think about endings-but about new beginnings. It is time to work diligently to develop, as the title of your conference so accurately captures, "Strategies for Keeping the Doors of Opportunity Open in the New Millennium."

We have just joined in the celebration of the birth of the new century and all of the hope and promise that it brings. Nowhere does that potential shine more than when it intersects with the opportunities offered by a quality education.

At no time in history have the level and quality of education that a person receives had as profound an impact on the personal and professional success of that individual as they do today.

I believe that when historians look back on this time hundreds of years from now, they will mark it as a critical point, the commencement of a new age- the Age of Education. That is why this administration is working to increase the opportunities for all young people to get a quality education and why we are continuing to open the doors to college to every American.

The budget that President Clinton and Vice President Gore recently proposed for Fiscal Year 2001 would significantly increase our investment in Title III of the Higher Education Act. The funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) would rise to $169 million-and this comes after an equally significant increase for the current year.

This continued investment represents the understanding of the important role that HBCUs play in our country. It is an investment in a group of institutions of higher learning that have produced the majority of African American leaders of this country.

It is an investment in nearly 300,000 college students who are engaged in learning and training not only for professional success but also for success as citizens. These broad goals of HBCUs comprise the true meaning of higher education.

The role of HBCUs is based in history-a history that is very much alive. It continues to unfold, and we can and must build on it. For many years, I have described our higher education system as the jewel of our education system-and the envy of the world.

The budgetary investments that President Clinton and Vice President Gore have proposed should confirm that we are serious about building on this foundation. We must continue to expand our commitment to open the doors to higher education to all Americans over the next several years and help families pay for college.

In the administration's proposed 2001 budget, we ask Congress to raise the maximum Pell Grant to $3,500, increase Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants (SEOG) by almost 10 percent ($60 million), and boost College Work-Study funding to more than $1 billion. As you know, these initiatives make a real difference in the lives of your students.

I am especially excited-and I think you should be as well-by the president's new proposal to greatly expand the tax deductibility of college tuition and fees. The College Opportunity Tax Cut will treat tax deductibility for college tuition similarly to tax deductibility for homes.

It pleases me too that we were able to design this tax credit so that it benefits lower-income families as much as middle-income families.

Families with incomes under $100,000 will receive the equivalent of a $2,800 scholarship on $10,000 or more of tuition. And this tax deductibility for college will be available every year.

When we first proposed the Hope Tax Credit, critics scoffed at using the tax code to promote investment in a college education. Well, the first year's results are in. Nearly five million students took advantage of the Hope and Lifetime Learning tax credits last year.

Even more encouraging is that fully one-half of the students who used the credit had incomes under $50,000. One-fifth of the beneficiaries had incomes under $20,000.

These outcomes mean that the tax benefits did exactly what they were supposed to do-create and increase the college-going opportunities for millions of students who otherwise wouldn't have had them.

Now these numbers are very rewarding. But they also reveal that the potential for what we can do is even greater. When we created these initiatives, we estimated that nearly 13 million students would be eligible for $7 billion in benefits. So there is plenty of room for improvement and growth, and I hope you will help further raise awareness of your students and their families.

I am also very excited by the promise of our proposed dual degree program for minority-serving institutions. Based on the proven success of the Atlanta University Center's Dual-Degree Engineering Program, this $40 million initiative will allow many more students at HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions to receive two degrees within five years.

In the Atlanta Center's program, for example, students study for three years at Morehouse, Spelman, Clark in Atlanta and Morris Brown, and then go on to study engineering for two years at a cooperating research university such as Columbia, Georgia Tech, or Boston University.

The president's new initiative would help provide scholarships to participating students-thereby ensuring that more students would be able to finish the dual degree program.

Of course, getting to and succeeding in college is only the second half of the education equation. We need to continue to work hard to prepare and motivate students in the earlier years so that they can achieve that level of success.

We must expand investments in TRIO and GEAR UP-to help students make the critical decisions to prepare for and succeed in college. The president's proposed budget significantly increases our investment in both of these vital programs.

These efforts are so successful because they build on the understanding that federal programs by themselves aren't the answer. They require individuals from elementary and secondary schools and from institutions of higher education to commit themselves to bringing more young people into the college-bound pipeline earlier.

Your organization clearly understands this kind of commitment. I was so pleased to see the four HBCUs of the Atlanta University Center host a rally during National College Week last November. It brought together over 1,000 middle school students. And I know that across the country you are helping to lead other such outreach efforts. I urge you to continue this kind of activity.

Still another way you can-and do-have an impact on the future of our college-going population is through improved teacher recruitment and preparation. HBCUs already send an exceptionally high proportion of African Americans into the teaching field. You have a great opportunity and a great responsibility to help meet the impending shortage of quality teachers.

Finally, I want to touch on one more issue that I believe is of critical importance for the future of education, and that is the power of technology.

We are living in a remarkable time-an age when human knowledge and achievement grow by leaps and bounds every day in virtually every field. And, increasingly, vast amounts of information seem to be available on the Internet and through the use of computers.

Never before in our history has the potential for such a cornucopia of information been available to so many.

However, more than ever before, people who have access to these knowledge resources and tools will have more opportunities-for learning, for employment, for success-than those who do not. I am pleased to see that you are focusing on this topic in a number of your sessions during this conference.

Last week, President Clinton spoke about this subject, about moving from a world where there is a digital divide to one in which there is a digital opportunity. He offered a plan that would build on the commitment and leadership that he and Vice President Gore have demonstrated over the last seven years.

But we still have a long way to go to achieve the full potential of the Internet and the use of technology for education. At the heart of this effort must be equal access.

Underserved students who live in rural areas or go to less affluent schools can link up with world-class libraries and museums and participate in distance learning programs that are linked to our institutions of higher education. In this way, we can open the doors of college to more people.

A new study indicates that fully 89 percent of the nation's schools and 51 percent of its classrooms are now wired to the Internet. This means that many high school and middle school students could potentially benefit from distance learning opportunities created by your colleges.

Until we completely bridge this digital divide, which is largely drawn on racial, economic, and other demographic lines, we will fail to realize the full potential of the Internet for education.

In closing, I would like to recall the work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As Vice President Gore has pointed out, "In a typical year, Dr. King traveled 780,000 miles and made more than 200 speeches. And on nearly every stop, he made a point of going to a schoolhouse door or a library or a college campus. He preached simultaneously integration and education because he knew that even if we are judged by the content of our character, it is education that will truly move us from separate to equal."

This organization has worked hard to bring about equality by providing the opportunity for all Americans to achieve a quality education. I thank you for your leadership and I look forward to working with you over the next year.