September 21, 2007
Sen. Coburn Adds Income Test to Tuition Assistance
Here's one more United States senator to add to your list of annoying congresscritters sticking their nose in the District's business. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has created an income test for participation in D.C.'s Tuition Assistance Grant Program, which provides financial aid for residents at all public and some private universities around the country.
The program is designed to ensure that D.C. residents have the same opportunities as all other Americans to attend a university at a discounted, in-state tuition rate. Coburn wants to prevent families earning $1 million or more from participating in the program. While it might sound reasonable, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton has pointed out that this kind of income test does not apply in any other state.
Thanks to the rules which allow a single senator to hold up any bill related to the District just because they feel like it, Democrats have decided not to fight the income test for fear that the entire program could end up in jeopardy. And just in case you were wondering, Sen. Coburn also voted against allowing the D.C. voting rights to move forward earlier this week.
If you'd like to let Sen. Coburn know how you feel about his treatment of the District, you can reach him at the contact info below:
172 Russell Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5754 (phone)
202-224-6008 (fax)
Or email him here
|
Man, the guy couldn't look more like a dick even if his head were purple and he had a vein popping out his neck.
It's like he's saying, "Hey, kid! C'mere! I've got some tuition assistance right here...IN MY PANTS!"
That said, should people make $1 million be getting assistance of any kind? Maybe other states should have this kind of income test. Maybe if they did, they'd have fewer millionaires sucking on that sweet, sweet government sugar tit. Besides, it's not like DC has a long and illustrious history of efficiently managing any program that involves spending money.
So yeah, he's a dick for meddling, but his heart's in the right place...IN HIS PANTS!
Whoa, yeah--that's a real outrage. Our millionaires are getting shafted out of much needed public assistance. DC demands parity with every other state's wasteful policies--no matter how egregious. Let's take to the streets--tonight.
As a District resident, can I access this program for help covering the costs of my graduate studies at Bovine University?
We get no vote in these senators elections, but yet they get to screw with our affairs? That is wholly unjust! I should run for senate so I can...oh wait never mind.
My question is if any million-dollar family has ever used the program.. the program doesn't cover GU or GW..
And other note.. this illustrates the dire need to change Senate rules. The fact that one member can browbeat 534 others like this is ridiculous.
Wait, wait. Do I understand this right? D.C. residents can get in-state tuition at any public university in the country? So, if I had three kids, I could send one to UVa, one to UC-Berkley, and one to the University of Michigan, and they'd all get in-state tuition? That's huge! And the reason that "this kind of income test does not apply in any other state" is that in any other state some one making $1 million/year would be paying taxes that go to support the public university. But D.C. residents get the break at, say, UC-Berkley, without having to pay any state taxes to support it.
Thanks to the rules which allow a single senator to hold up any bill related to the District just because they feel like it
I thought it was the case that any senator could put a hold on any bill (not just those relating to DC), just because they feel like it. They don't even need to identify themselves.
But that aside, I call this another "ehh" moment. This isn't really Congress meddling with local affairs. The assistance program is funded by the federal government, so if they want to put some restraints on it, it seems to me that that's their perogative.
For Norton to get indignant that no other state has an income test is selective anger. No other state has a program like this period. The whole justification of the program is that UDC sucks, and it's cheaper just to outsource our public university system than to make UDC equal to UVA or UMD.
I understand the counterargument is "well UDC sucks because of how Congress has treated DC in the past and the burden the federal government still has on DC". But that's kind of a tortured analysis if you ask me.
What it gets down to is do you really think we ought to be paying some rich kid from Spring Valley to go to Ann Arbor?
I certainly don't.
DC graduates of DC schools who are under the age of 21 can get this tuition assistance. Let's make it clear here, I tried this at age 25 and there's a definite age cap to this.
"DC graduates of DC schools"
Is that really true? I thought you only had to be a resident. I don't think you have to have gone to DCPS, or even a private school within the District. But if you've tried, I guess you'd know better.
The problem with this is not keeping millionaires from getting tuition assistance, it's the cost to administer means testing, and whether Congress will provide all funding necessary for the new layer of bureaucracy (probably not). Whoever pays, it's unlikely that the value of tuition assistance denied to millionaires that would otherwise seek it exceeds the new administrative costs Coeburn has imposed.
I don't like when they mess with us, but this one seems like nothing to get pissy about.
I think we should have an income litmus test like this for everything in DC.
For example, if you have a combined income over $100,000 a PBR at your favorite bar would cost you $15. If you made $50,000 or more it would cost $7.50 If you made less than $20,000 combined income would get you the same beer for $1.
Seriously, if you make more than $100K you can afford a $15 PBR. It only seems fair.
It's a waste of time to call him. You're not his constituent. You can't even vote. Any intern who answers the phone will, upon hanging up, laugh to his fellow interns about those poor, poor D.C. residents who like to complain.
i think everyone shoudl realize that this program is paid for with federal tax dollars. i get just as pissed as anyone when congress meddles in our local affairs, but coburn isn't being unfair here in my view. if the dc government wants to give students whose families make a mil-plus some help with their tuition, that's their decision.
Reid, you're right that Senators can hold up any bill they want.
Related (and sorry, but probably more important) story is Bush wanting to veto the SCHIP bill.
Also, any senator can put a hold on legislation. It used to be anonymous, but is now (I think) public after a number of days. It doesn't have anything to do with the fact that the legislation concerns the District.
You guys are missing something--a student whose parents make more than $1 million would still fail the test, even if he or she was estranged or the parents were hoping to "build character" for their child by refusing to dole out cash. *This* is the person the restriction would hurt the most.
My folks (upper middle class) didn't give me money to go to college (Ohio), and I had to borrow or scholarship it all. Unsurprisingly, there were a lot of great loans I wasn't eligible for because of "my" income--which was not a lot, even for a 17-year-old. They were pretty hard years, and it has directly contributed to my struggle to go to grad school.
It's probably best not to FURTHER disadvantage DC residents if we can help it, right?
This bill is stupid.
Show me evidence that the tax money spent on discussion/voting/drafting/whatever regarding this legislation will be less than that saved by instituting the income test, and I'll happily rescind that statement.
I mean c'mon; how many mil+-earners ARE THERE are living within the District? I'm not saying they don't exist, but we're talking about a small, small minority of the mil+-earners in the DC area; it's probably a hand-full of families. Add that they'd have to have college-aged children, and you're down to a small percent of a handfull. Add that they'd have to be going to a TAG-qualifying school (nothing prestigious); you're down to, what, one or two maybe in any given year?
One or two a year? Hell, I'd be willing to bet a hundred bucks that there haven't been more than one or two students TOTAL from families earning more than a million dollars a year who have taken advantage of this program so far.
Does Congress have the right to do this? They're providing the funds, so absolutely.
Is there any real reason to do this other than political grandstanding? Not that I can see.
Good point VJ. Sen. Coburn never met a government assistance program he liked (military excluded activity in Iraq),
CALL HIS OFFICE.
commenting on the blog is nice but we need to call this SOB and tell him we're pissed.
I just called and talked briefly with some 23 year old.
Yes, it sucks b/c what does he care--we dont have a Rep. or a senator to screw over his constituents.
Senator Coburn has had a longstanding crusade against unnecessary government spending (aside from the $6 billion a month we spend on the Iraq war), but I'll be laughing with VJ and Nate when the CRS estimate of savings from this provision reaches $250,000/year.
Would Medicare or Social Security have the popular buy-in they do if they only applied to those who really needed them instead of being universal? It's an easy way to limit support among the influential for otherwise popular programs.
Seriously, if you make more than $100K you can afford a $15 PBR. It only seems fair.
---
ahem.
I make $100k per year and I pay $2500 per month toward my Petworth mortgage meaning I can't go out to bars at all. That's the choice I made, but let's not oversell $100k per year, this is an expensive city.
Here's a thought. How about we take the money going to tuition assistance and make UDC a first class state school. And create a community college system for the district at the same time. I mean would we even need this if UDC wasn't such a shite school? And what about kids that go to school in other states with shite state schools -- do they get the same assistance? What about kids that would like to go to one of the areas top rated junior colleges -- NOVA or Montgomery College: do they get assistance. I know that I don't as a work professional that lives in the district and would love to get the same tuition rates at NOVA as my coworkers. I'll say this again: not having a first rate college or junior college is the biggest impediment to DC attracting and keeping middle class families.
"
My question is if any million-dollar family has ever used the program.. the program doesn't cover GU or GW..
[6] Posted by: Politburo | September 21, 2007 2:26 PM"
Wrong. GU and GW are eligible under this program. "Up to $2,500 per academic year for private HBCUs, nationwide, and private colleges/universities in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, for a lifetime maximum of $12,500."
http://seo.dc.gov/seo/cwp/view,A,1226,Q,559716.asp
http://seo.dc.gov/seo/cwp/view,a,1226,q,536812.asp
"Wait, wait. Do I understand this right? D.C. residents can get in-state tuition at any public university in the country? So, if I had three kids, I could send one to UVa, one to UC-Berkley, and one to the University of Michigan, and they'd all get in-state tuition?"
Only up to $10,000 a year. All three of those schools most likely have a bigger difference than that. So yes you get $10K off of tuition but it will still be more than in-state tuition. Overall though I think this program is better than any state's in-state tuition because you have so many options.
How about we take the money going to tuition assistance and make UDC a first class state school. And create a community college system for the district at the same time.
You're kidding, right? The amount of money spent on this TAG program couldn't even come close to achieving those goals, and you're screwing all the kids who graduate between the time TAG is cancelled and and the point where UDC actually "arrives".
I'm in favor of the goal of revitalizing UDC, and I think that it should probably incorporate some kind of community college/satellite campus component, but that's not the same thing as that huge project being a "better use" of the TAG funds. At this point, both are necessary.
I'm pretty upset with Coburn because I'd rather help families making more than a million dollars than feed hungry children, put textbooks in schools, etc.
Here's a thought. How about we take the money going to tuition assistance and make UDC a first class state school. And create a community college system for the district at the same time. I mean would we even need this if UDC wasn't such a shite school? And what about kids that go to school in other states with shite state schools -- do they get the same assistance? What about kids that would like to go to one of the areas top rated junior colleges -- NOVA or Montgomery College: do they get assistance. I know that I don't as a work professional that lives in the district and would love to get the same tuition rates at NOVA as my coworkers. I'll say this again: not having a first rate college or junior college is the biggest impediment to DC attracting and keeping middle class families.
___________________________________________
This will be dopey idea for one reason: The demogaugues will guarantee that it'll be an open enrollment system (i.e. a joke).
DC wants to be a state, but also wants Uncle Sam to pay to send its students to other state schools since UDC is, perhaps, the worst 4 year college in the country (name me one that is worse, seriously, name me one).
Incredible.
Some of you people are just plain idiots. You make it seem like we (DC residents) pay no Federal Taxes at all. I'd be fine without the tuition program being eliminated if I paid no Federal taxes at all. Some of you just don't get it. DC does not have anywhere close to the public university system that every other state does. To the moron who said.. what about the kids that go to crappy schools in other states. Again, at least they have choices. In DC you have none, it is UDC or private school. Personally, I even think the millionaire families should be eligible for this program. There are millionaires all over the country and if their children choose to go to a instate public school... the school DOES NOT say.. wait a second you make too much... you need to pay out of state tuition. Some of the people posting on here are really dumbing down the intellectual level of the conversation as illustrated by some of the comments.