May, 2000

PRESIDENT'S REPORT
May 12, 2000

This administration has been very busy responding to several issues since taking office. We are responding to these issues, both as a region and in committee. The routine business of the association is running smoothly, we have seen an uneventful transition from one Treasurer to the next. This can sometimes be a tenuous period of time. I have every confidence in our new officers. The 22nd Annual Conference looks to be a major success that puts the association is a good fiscal position over the next year. It is my hope that the Board of Director's can accomplish much this year and set the stage for the next administration. This administration will be working with the President-elect to insure a smooth transition next March.

This particular President's Report will be in two sections. Part two will be formulated after the COE Board of Director's meeting May 4-6 in order to bring you the most current information possible on national and legislative events.

WALL STREET JOURNAL ARTICLE: The Wall Street Journal article of March 29, 2000 (pg. CA1 of the California edition) has created great concern among the membership. It is assumed that this article will be brought up during reauthorization to attack our prior experience points. This is where it is important for all TRIO program personnel to be involved in this Upward Bound issue. It is very important that we respond in writing to the Journal and let them know that they made an unfair comparison. Upward Bound was compared unfavorably to the Quest program at Stanford University. For those of you who don't know, the Quest program only allows admittance to those with GPA's of 3.7 - 4.0 with extremely high standardized test scores. Quest also recruits nationally, selecting only the "cream of the crop". These students are destined for success regardless of services provided. An accurate comparison in the article did not exist as the demographic pools served by the two programs are so diametrically opposed. Please read it and respond to the editors in writing, this is one our best opportunities to refute the Mathematica Report in a national publication. Here are some bullets to help in writing letters:

Quest serves only high academic achievers (3.7-4.0 GPA) with extremely high SAT/ACT scores; Upward Bound serves unproven low academic achievers who show potential. The national study (Mathematica) mentioned in the article used flawed methodology and had a contaminated control group. Upward Bound does not have the benefit of reviewing SAT/ACT scores before admitting a young participant. Quest recruits nationally, Upward Bound recruits from the local area only.

Quest is run as a "boot camp" with highly screened individuals already committed to entering college, Upward Bound accepts a variety of individuals and develops well-rounded citizens who are considering college attendance.

If Upward Bound programs could recruit using Quests methods, the success rate would most likely be the same.

If enough people respond to the Journal we may get a retraction or a follow-up article which would negate the use of the article against us in the future. The best address I could find is: The Wall Street Journal Daniel Henninger, Deputy Editor-Editorial Page 200 Liberty Street New York, NY 10281

LEGISLATIVE NEWS: The Hi-Tech Act (HR 3983) is currently under review by Congress. This Act actually increases the fee for corporate H1b Visas (used to hire foreign high-tech workers) to $1000. A nice side effect of HR 3983 is that a fund will be established through these fees which will directly support TRIO Math/Science Centers. It is estimated that HR 3983, if successful, could provide over $30 million in additional TRIO funding.

Monitoring of the College Challenge Completion Grant situation is ongoing and I will report to you any further developments as they arise. It is possible, but unlikely, that these grants will surface in time for the SSS competition this fall.

PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS: Partnership Agreements are still a major cause of concern. These Partnership Agreements are the Department's way of responding to GPRA requirements. They need a standardized set of data in order to show Congress what we are doing in the programs as a whole. I have been told that the objectives in the Partnership Agreements will be the ones used to determine Prior Experience points. As you may have noticed, questions 4a and 4b sound identical. The way I understand this is that 4a is for current participants and 4b is for those participants who have dropped out of your program. On Question 2b, the Department is now aware that many of us are not using "grade level equivalents" to show improvement on standardized tests.

FUNDING STRATEGIES: Funding increases are still a major concern and the problem is being addressed at every level. At the direction of the COE Board of Directors, the Council staff has forwarded a strategy to the Department that would put some of this new money into the hands of existing programs rather than using all the money to fund new programs. This proposal intends to use Technology Supplements (about $13.5 million) for EOC and Talent Search projects, allow the opportunity to increase Upward Bound participant numbers in high need areas, and increase McNair stipends. This is only a short-term start to the overall strategy of protecting existing programs with sufficient increases.

SURVEYS: Only a small percentage of TRIO Directors responded to the COE Technology Survey. This survey was done at the request of the Department to determine how funding would occur. The result was disappointing, the Department and Congress have assumed that we either don't want or need funding for technology since we did not respond to the survey. There may be a new round of surveys coming out, giving us a second chance to respond. The same is true for the Salary Survey, please encourage you constituents to respond to these surveys, they will be used to portray the need to fund existing programs at higher levels. If we don't take an active interest in these subjects then neither will Congress.

MIAMI DIRECTOR'S MEETING: You know as much as I do. If you have not yet received a registration packet, you should soon. I have been in touch with Lorraine Marks, Dr. Belle's new Administrative Assistant, and I will relay any information I receive via the WESTOP listserve and website. Funding for this event will take place in the form of an increase to your Award Letter. This has already occurred in many instances. Please inform the membership to check with their institutional Grants Officers to see if this increase has occurred.

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS: TRIO programs are now contained within the CAS (The Council for Standards in Higher Education) Standards. This should help to bring TRIO programs into the same family as other campus entities. The CAS standards outline and define the professionalism of TRIO programs, personnel and program management, and many other subjects pertinent to operating projects at a professional level. CAS standards can assist new projects in reaching high levels of professionalism and help existing programs reaffirm professionalism to campus administration. CAS standards for TRIO programs are now available to order through the COE offices or from CAS directly.

POLICY SEMINAR: I would like to thank those who attended Policy Seminar last month. A lot of good work was accomplished. As a Region, we visited 50 of our 69 congressional offices, 39 offices expressed support for TRIO funding, 38 offices agreed to write a letter to the Appropriations Subcommittee, and 39 offices either have visited or agreed to try and visit a TRIO program in their district. If we had just a few more people we could have covered all 69 offices, please look at your calendars and consider participating in Policy Seminar next year March 11-13, with the Department of Education meeting on March 14 (the later is an approved project expense). Please contact Connie Baker, Chair of our Legislation & Education Committee for more information on Policy Seminar.

The following report supplements and updates the President's Report-Part I submitted on April 28, 2000 and is based partially on information received at the Council Board meeting May 4-6, 2000.

CONGRESSIONAL UPDATE: COE is requesting a $150 million increase for FY01. This would bring total TRIO appropriations to a level of $795 million. On April 13 the House passed HR 290 which set general limits on the amount of funds Congress may use for federal discretionary spending. The final budget resolution set discretionary spending at $600.3 billion, with $310.8 billion reserved for defense. This leaves $289.5 billion for all other programs, a decrease of $6.7 billion from last year.

The preliminary 302(b) allocation slate has given the Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee a $3-4 billion increase over last year. The Subcommittee mark-up was May 10th, with the full Appropriations Committee scheduled for mark-up on May 24th. The Senate Subcommittee has, as of yet, set no tentative date for the FY01 mark-up.

UPWARD BOUND PERFORMANCE REPORT: As we know, the Department convened a national advisory committee to assist in the development of the new Upward Bound Performance Report. The committee had an agreement with the Department in January of 1999 to limit participant tracking to 18 months after college entrance. Additionally, the 18-month limit was agreed to for participants who discontinue project participation. Members of this committee recently received a letter stating that the committee was disbanded, thanked them for their assistance, and stated that all the performance reporting criteria would return to the original format prior to the formation of the advisory committee. This situation is unacceptable to the members of the committee, COE, myself, and hopefully the WESTOP Board of Directors. I urge everyone to write in response to the proposed Performance Report.

The proposed Upward Bound Performance Report appeared in the Federal Register on April 4. Public comment is open for 60 days ending June 3. Chapter Presidents, please pass this on to your constituents immediately.

COLLEGE COMPLETION CHALLENGE GRANTS: No new information is available at this time. The CCCG budget impact does not appear in the FY00 budget so it will likely not appear this fall along with the SSS competition. Budget impact does appear in the FY01 budget request.

POLICY SEMINAR-PARTII: 337 members of Congress agreed to write a letter in support of TRIO and the Student Aid Alliance request for Pell Grant increases. 71 members have written letters. Those who met with representatives during Policy need to conduct follow-up activities with those members who have not written a letter after agreeing to do so. Follow-up with Congressional offices is as important as the actual visit. Please encourage your constituents to make phone calls reminding, or thanking, members of congress for these letters.

THE DEPARTMENT: The COE Board drafted a resolution expressing our frustrations over current funding strategies by the Department. This resolution was given to Secretary Riley. As of this date, the Department still has not heeded our warnings concerning the degradation of quality within TRIO programs in favor of funding as many new programs as possible.

Approximately 15 WESTOP members were in attendance at the Agenda Project meeting in San Francisco on May 2. Dr. Fritchler, Assistant Secretary of Education, conducted the meeting to elicit input from the public about future priorities of the Department. Several TRIO personnel were able to speak on behalf of our region. Dr Fritchler seemed indifferent to our pleas to protect existing programs. At the conclusion of the meeting, the California Commissioner of Student Aid, representing 18% of all university and college students in the nation, stood and supported TRIO programs and our need to protect "quality over quantity". At this comment Dr. Fritchler turned to his assistant and said "write that down." Our message needs to be carried by influential persons outside the ranks of TRIO. The Department knows what we are going to say, but when they here it from a neutral source it has much more impact. We need to foster these relationships.

FY00 SPENDING PLAN

$14 million Continuing Grants
$ 1 million TRIO Staff Training Grants
$ 5 million Dissemination Partnership Grants
$1.5 million McNair Stipend Increases and Administrative Costs
$10 million Technology Initiative
$13.5 million Upward Bound Special Initiative

The $13.5 million for Upward Bound has not been acted upon by the Department and is sitting "available" to be used in other ways. The danger is that these funds may be subverted to be used for "geographically undeserved areas" (otherwise known as race-based programming) similar to the battle we fought during the last reauthorization. These funds are currently going through a complex approval procedure and the deadlines are fast approaching.

FY01 ALLOCATION: It seems apparent the House will propose in excess of $725 million for TRIO in FY01. The exact number is not known at this time. The Senate will, of course, suggest a lower number. The difference between our current $645 million and the proposed $725+ million may be used as a bargaining tool. We need to be vigilant in getting members to write to their representatives in support of TRIO increases.

TRIO REGULATIONS: Concern is mounting over the Departments failure to align TRIO regulations to reflect changes in the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act as amended in 1998. TRIO regulations still do not conform to the law. The only way TRIO programs can have significant input into the re-writing of these regulations is if the Department publishes new proposed regulations and opens them up for Public comment.

STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES: The SSS competition has a tentatively scheduled due date of September 9, 2000. COE is sponsoring grant-writing workshops for May 16-17 in San Juan, June 7-8 in Miami, July 18-19 in Chicago, and August 7-8 in San Francisco. These workshops are free to COE institutional members. Individualized Internet assistance is also available, this is a new service to members.

A national Forum on Summer Bridge Programs for Student Support Services will be offered along with the Chicago grantwriting workshop on July 17-18. This forum is sponsored by the TRIO Clearinghouse, the ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education, and the St. Paul Companies.McNAIR

COE is offering a "hands-on" Performance Reporting and Tracking Computer Lab on May 31-June 1 in Miami for McNair Directors and staff. This will take place at the Fontainebleau Hilton. The workshop will assist McNair personnel comply with the Annual Performance Report based in ACCESS 97.

GATES MILLENNIUM SCHOLARS: COE has been invited to become a collaborating partner with The College Fund/UNCF, which administers the Gates Millennium Scholars program.

TEN YEAR STUDY OF UPWARD BOUND

The May edition of Opportunity Outlook contains an article authored by Dave Ferguson and Christine Casey entitled The Upward Bound Ten-Year Study of Program Graduates. The article should serve as a model to all TRIO programs on the depth of information we should be collecting and analyzing to insure that we improve project services and survive such things as the Mathematica Report. Please read this article (page 17) and reflect upon how your own project could conduct its own study.

The May edition of Opportunity Outlook also featured an article by John Hunter entitled TRIO in the Marshall Islands-A Whole Different Challenge (page 29). I encourage everyone to read these two articles produced by WESTOP personnel.

Respectfully Submitted,

D. Matthew Benney

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