Wilson High grads: Cutting DCTAG would be like ‘losing my golden ticket to college’

The DC Tuition Assistance Grant has been making college more affordable for DC high school graduates for almost 20 years. So when President Trump’s 2019 budget proposed cutting the program, it caused a stir – and some panic.

The Wilson Beacon’s student reporters talked to three graduates who are currently attending college out of state.

The Beacon profiled 3 Wilson alums who will be affected by Trumps proposed cuts to DCTAG.

Kyah King can be found on the sidelines of most Louisville football and basketball games. But without DCTAG, she would have to return home. https://t.co/kUxZsXRnXZ pic.twitter.com/33qYEKUvBY

— The Wilson Beacon (@thewilsonbeacon) February 23, 2018

DCTAG is “literally my golden ticket to college” says Mykia Washigton, a junior at Kent State. https://t.co/kUxZsXRnXZ pic.twitter.com/3r9L9fT6w2

— The Wilson Beacon (@thewilsonbeacon) February 23, 2018

How damaging would losing DCTAG be? “[I]t will be very difficult for a lot of our students to afford the high price tag of college,” Patrice Arrington, Wilson’s director of College and Career Services told The Beacon. Grant recipients receive $10,000 toward public university tuition each year, and $2,500 in assistance for historically black colleges and universities and local private colleges.

Milky Hudson got a frantic text from his mom, who thought TAG had already been cut, trying to figure out how they would pay for Morehouse College. https://t.co/kUxZsXRnXZ pic.twitter.com/FQa7QUZbrY

— The Wilson Beacon (@thewilsonbeacon) February 23, 2018

Hudson’s mom need not worry, if Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton is correct. “I do not believe they are in danger of losing their DCTAG funds,” the DC delegate said in a statement. “DCTAG has been funded every year by Republican and Democratic Congresses alike and, unlike Trump this year, Republican presidents as well, since its creation.”

The Beacon’s staff, in an editorial warn that such a threat “should not be taken lightly.” These students’ dreams, “come with a hefty price tag,” they say, and DCTAG is vital.