DC council thinking about giving every student $100k for college

[Anonymous]

DC will never---because of its small size, inability to impose a commuter tax and dearth of taxable real estate due to all of the federal/non-profit and institutional landowners---will never be able to generate enough revenue to create a first class university.

Add to that the issue of entrenched governmental corruption.

In-state tuition everywhere, DC pays the difference, no income cap. No exclusion of private school students. What if my kid is LD and I am already paying for private because DCPS can't provide a decent education. Why should I be doubly penalized on the college front?

[Anonymous]

So, people want it to extend to kids in privates or charters, but it should extend (even on a sliding scale) to those over $250K. I do think it's unfair. We make over $250K and put our kids in DCPS....so we're out! Many states are $50K out of state, so with DCTAG, you're looking at $160K for one student, 4 years. That's a hefty chunk of money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's insane.

I don't think it's insane, but not too smart either to make public education another income-based entitlement. Other states have one in-state tuition, not several based on parents' income.

The Federal taxes have income based benefits. Day care and summer camp have federal tax impacts.
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p970/ch06.html#en_US_2012_publink1000295066

Magic cut-offs are 80,000 single and 160,000 family. Families who live in low cost of living areas and make 159 are better off than those making 160 in DC.

[Anonymous]

If they income-test it, then they really haven't done anything to encourage the "professional" class to stay in DC---and yes, by that I do mean people who make $250K, which a dual professional couple in DC can hit reasonably quickly. People making $500HHI aren't going to base their decision upon where to live based upon an in-state tuition credit, but the $250K HHI couple will (and currently does, as evidenced by the high number of those folks with that income range who live in MoCo or FFX precisely because of schools). If the policy is supposed to be about retaining families in the DCPS system, then drop the income test, or make it significantly higher.

[Anonymous]

No, the policy is designed to level the playing field for lower income folks to be able to pay for college easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's insane.

I don't think it's insane, but not too smart either to make public education another income-based entitlement. Other states have one in-state tuition, not several based on parents' income.

The Federal taxes have income based benefits. Day care and summer camp have federal tax impacts.
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p970/ch06.html#en_US_2012_publink1000295066

Magic cut-offs are 80,000 single and 160,000 family. Families who live in low cost of living areas and make 159 are better off than those making 160 in DC.

Interesting. And what does it have to do with higher Ed? The question is how to replace in-state college tuition, not how to extend daycare to people in their 20s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, the policy is designed to level the playing field for lower income folks to be able to pay for college easier.

Beautiful idea, why not extend it to K12? Parents with incomes over $250k who send their kids to JKLM, Deal or Wilson should be ready to pay at least $10k per kid per year in tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, the policy is designed to level the playing field for lower income folks to be able to pay for college easier.

How much is the D.C. Promise worth?

The D.C. Promise will cover the costs of tuition and fees after other sources of financial aid have been exhausted. The maximum amount of the grant will depend on the student’s household income and the length of time they were enrolled in a District public school. Students who were continuously enrolled between grades 6 and 12 and who are from households with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) will be eligible for the largest awards. Students who were enrolled continuously between grades 9 and 12 will be eligible for a reduced amount.



There are tables on the website that lists the grant for income levels. For a family of 3 making $150-250K, the max grant would be $5K per year (max $25K for 5 years). Also, it doesn't look like TAG will be replaced per Catania's website and reading the bill. Even if the income cap was removed, TAG is a better deal for higher income families (assuming they are considering public universities).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, the policy is designed to level the playing field for lower income folks to be able to pay for college easier.

How much is the D.C. Promise worth?

The D.C. Promise will cover the costs of tuition and fees after other sources of financial aid have been exhausted. The maximum amount of the grant will depend on the student’s household income and the length of time they were enrolled in a District public school. Students who were continuously enrolled between grades 6 and 12 and who are from households with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) will be eligible for the largest awards. Students who were enrolled continuously between grades 9 and 12 will be eligible for a reduced amount.



There are tables on the website that lists the grant for income levels. For a family of 3 making $150-250K, the max grant would be $5K per year (max $25K for 5 years). Also, it doesn't look like TAG will be replaced per Catania's website and reading the bill. Even if the income cap was removed, TAG is a better deal for higher income families (assuming they are considering public universities).

If the incentive is to keep middle and upper middle income parents in the city ho are concerned about the difference to attend public universities, the incentive fails. If the incentive is to help lower income and lower middle income attend public universities it works. Upper upper middle and wealthy don't care.

I don't care what you people say, 250k in DC is not wealthy, especially if you have to provide for your own retirement. financial aid does not exist for these kids. Schools, from middle school to college, is one of the primary reasons the district parents suck it up and move to the soulless suburbs. This legislation does little to stem that tide.

[Anonymous]

Sorry if this has already been discussed but would this be in addition to or instead of the non-needs based in state tuition incentive of up to $10k difference per year DC already has? Our 3-kid DC family in DCPC and DCPS has an annual income of a little over $100k-does that mean that they program would institute a reduction in in state tuition remission for our family we would already receive, do we choose the best of either plan, will the previous plan be replaced by this one or do they work simultaneously?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry if this has already been discussed but would this be in addition to or instead of the non-needs based in state tuition incentive of up to $10k difference per year DC already has? Our 3-kid DC family in DCPC and DCPS has an annual income of a little over $100k-does that mean that they program would institute a reduction in in state tuition remission for our family we would already receive, do we choose the best of either plan, will the previous plan be replaced by this one or do they work simultaneously?

Based on the DC council and Catania's websites, DC TAG ($10K for state tuition) program would still exist; the $100K program would be a new program, if approved by Congress and the Mayor. Not sure if the same student could use both programs the same year.

[Anonymous]

File this under unintended consequences.

I don't see how DCTAG remains once it becomes national news that DC residents get up to 100K for college. Congress (representing the rest of the US) will say no need for DCTAG.

HHI folks concerned about not getting significant money under this new program will likely end up with nothing from either.

[Anonymous]

So I guess because my DH and I make 260K, we will have to get divorced with one of us having sole custody so we can make it under the cap. Kids have been in dcps since pre-k and our incomes only reached this amount recently. it isn't as tho we have been able to save tons of money for college. Agree it should apply to all kids in DC and that kids should simply be able to pay in-state tuition rates at any public university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's insane.

I don't think it's insane, but not too smart either to make public education another income-based entitlement. Other states have one in-state tuition, not several based on parents' income.

The Federal taxes have income based benefits. Day care and summer camp have federal tax impacts.
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p970/ch06.html#en_US_2012_publink1000295066

Magic cut-offs are 80,000 single and 160,000 family. Families who live in low cost of living areas and make 159 are better off than those making 160 in DC.

Interesting. And what does it have to do with higher Ed? The question is how to replace in-state college tuition, not how to extend daycare to people in their 20s.

The link is to IRS tuition and fees deduction. That as well as IRS childcare beneficial provisions are linked to income. I was responding to the post on education being an income related entitlement.

[Anonymous]

I'm the parent of a middle schooler in private school and I'm really bothered by this. I really didn't want to send my kid to private school. I threw myself into my local public elementary school, serving on the LSRT/LSAT and the PTA leadership and donating thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of my time. I did what I could to help my in-boundary middle school, working with the PTA there, serving as a volunteer, and doing the legwork to get grants for the school from non-profits.

But when my kid got to fifth grade I came to the conclusion that the in-boundary middle-school just wasn't there yet. We applied to the out-of-boundary and charter lotteries but didn't get in to any of our acceptable choices. We thought long and hard about selling our house and moving in-boundary for a better middle school, but the economics of that just didn't work. So we bit the bullet and shelled out for private middle school, confident that we would come back for high school.

I was embittered by this experience, I felt that my city had failed me. And now you're saying that since my city failed me I'm going to be shut out of this program? Since my city failed me once it's failing me twice?