Tuition Guarantee for Post-Secondary Education
We propose to guarantee either trade school or college tuition for eligible students who fulfill the SLSD graduation requirements.
Guaranteeing a college or trade school education to high school graduates is perhaps the most effective use to which desegregation funds could be put. The attitude of the child being taught correlates directly to how much that child learns. If a child wants to learn, he or she has a good chance to learn. If not, all the resources in the world will make little difference.
As it stands now, a significant percentage of minority children have little incentive to learn. From poorer families, they do not believe they will have the opportunity to go to college or a trade school, because their parents cannot afford tuition costs. Without the prospect of college, education seems to have little bearing on their future, and so they have no incentive to pay attention in class or exert themselves in school.
Inner-city minority students often experience a lowering of expectations as they age. In the first or second grade,they see themselves in approximately the same professions as middle-class children do. As they get older, they still want to go to college, but many of them come to the conclusion they will not be able to do so. As their expectations of future opportunities decrease, it is inevitable that their interest in school decreases. The result is that they get less out of their high school education, and are not prepared for college if they can find a way to meet the tuition payments.
By guaranteeing trade-school or college tuition to all Black children and low-income White children in the City of St. Louis who maintain a certain grade point average and achieve a certain entrance exam test score we can give children an incentive to learn. If children can see a benefit from education, they will pay attention in school; they will want to learn. They are more likely to extend themselves, to value the education they receive.
A situation in New York City reinforces this contention. In 1981, Eugene Lang promised to pay college tuition costs for the sixth grade class at P.S. 121.14New York Times, July 12, 1991 Of the 61 students in that class, 20 are now enrolled or have graduated from four-year colleges. 13 enrolled in community colleges, (three have received certificates, three have stopped attending), twelve received high school diplomas and did not continue their education, and nine dropped out of high school (seven moved away from New York).15Ibid. This compares to a dropout rate of over 75% for the New York City schools. As the New York Times notes: "By most measures those numbers are remarkable. Indeed, the year Mr. Lang made his pledge, the principal of P.S. 121 predicted that only one or two students would make it to college."16Ibid.
Mr. Lang's pledge evolved into the I Have A Dream Foundation, an organization he set up to administer the tuition guarantee and to provide in-school support to the children he sponsors. Because of the efforts of Mr. Lang and the I Have A Dream Foundation, wealthy individuals and organizations are sponsoring classes of low-income children in a number of cities across the United States, including St. Louis.17"I Have A Dream Foundation," St. Louis, MO
Although not as advanced, the results have been similar to those of the original New York City effort. In the St. Louis area, two sixth grade classes were sponsored beginning in 1987. Already a difference can be seen in retention rate; at the end of the program's first year, 10 to 12% of the students were retained (not allowed to move on to the next grade). In the most recent year, all students were able to advance to the next grade.
One of the disappointments of the federal programs such as Pell Grants and Guaranteed Student Loans is the high number of eligible minority students who do not participate. Put simply, they are not responding to the opportunities made available to them. The class of students in New York was from a poor neighborhood. As such most would likely have been eligible for tuition grants from the Federal Government, and at the very least Guaranteed Student Loans. Yet judging from the comments of the principal, most would not have attempted to take advantage of this opportunity. However when the opportunity was made explicit, they did respond. This is what we propose to do—make the opportunity explicit, and by doing so, create the habit of higher education. Children of middle class families generally expect to go to college or a technical school, and it is expected of them. Poor children do not expect to go to college, and even in situations where it is possible, they often do not attempt it. By making the opportunity explicit, we can create the expectation that high school is always followed by further education; we can help poor families develop middle class habits.
Costs
The average tuition cost in the state university system is $3,00018Figure supplied by Admissions Department, UMSL per year. Missouri Technical Institute's charge for a sixteen week, 90 credit program is $120/credit hour, for a total of $10,80019Figures supplied by Missouri Technical Institute According to the school, its tuition figure is in the middle range of trade school tuitions. For the purpose of our estimates, we used a figure of $3,000 per student per year.
Of the 1991 graduating class, an estimated 1069 of the 1409 students were Black.20Figures supplied by SLSD. Unfortunately, we received two different figures on the number of graduates, and both sources stood by their figures. The larger number of graduates was used, and then the number of Black students was arrived at from a percentage supplied by the district. If each of these students were to attend college or a trade school, the cost would be $3,207,000.00 for the first year. Obviously, it is unlikely that all of these students will be able to do so. However, for the purposes of our budget calculations, we will make use of this figure, to show the highest expenditure which is possible.
According to our estimates, 340 non-Black students graduated in 1991. In the 1991 school year, 5,259 out of the total of 8,855 White students in the district (59%) were receiving free or reduced lunch, which offers an indication of family income level. If we use this income definition as the demarcation for tuition credits for non-Black students, then we can assume that 200 of the 340 White students would also qualify for tuition credits. Thus the cost would be $600,000.00. Again, this figure could be drastically different. However, taking this figure, which should be at the high end of possible costs, and the high estimate for the number of Black students who could take advantage of the tuition credit, and we can project a total cost of $3,807,000.
Obviously, this will increase in steps. Assuming an average length of four years in school and some consistency in the number of students who take advantage of the credits, in the second year there will be 2538 students, in the third year 3807, and in the fourth year the number will level out at 5103 students. Tuition costs at this point would be $15,309,000 per year.
Ideally, tuition costs would increase drastically. Currently half of the ninth graders do not finish high school. If we were to achieve 100% graduation rate, which is the ultimate goal, and all of these students were eligible to participate in the program, then tuition expenditures would increase to approximately 32 million each year.
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