May 2004
WESTOP BOARD of DIRECTORS MEETING
President’s
Report
May 14 – 15, 2004
Renaissance Hollywood Hotel
Hollywood, CA
COE
The COE Board of Directors met in Aspen, Colorado last week. My report will contain highlights of what was discussed, and what is currently being work on. Those of immediate concern will be listed first.
Congressional Alert
Congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-CA-25) – Chairman of the House 21st Century Competitiveness Subcommittee – introduced The College Access and Opportunity Act of 2004 (HR 4283). This is a comprehensive bill that reauthorizes the remaining portions of the Higher Education Act (HEA), including Title IV and other student aid issues. The bill incorporates portions of the Expanding Opportunities in Higher Education Act (HR 3039), which was introduced in September of 2003 and included language that impacted TRIO. See earlier email messages. The 10% set aside of TRIO funds will have a devastating effect on existing programs. Everyone must write their Congressional Representative with their concerns!
Student Support Services Competition
According to Julia Tower, the SSS grant competition will be pushed back until October. Mr. Oxendine wanted to get an August deadline, but will not be able to get it in time with the processes that still need to be gone through. As he would like to respect the COE Conference in September, he is planning for an October due date instead. Due to my questioning on the first several pages of assurances dealing with e-grants, Mr. Oxendine will not count those pages in the 75 page total for SSS grants.
COE SSS proposal writing workshops:
May 17-18, 2004 – San Juan, PR
June 14-15, 2004 – Washington DC
July 26-27, 2004 – Chicago, IL
August 16-17, 2004 – San Francisco, CA
E-application workshops
June 23, 2004 – Washington DC
August 4, 2004 – Memphis, TN
FY 2005 Appropriations
The Bush Administration has requested level funding for TRIO, GEAR UP, Pell Grants and the remaining student financial aid programs. Pell Grants will remain at $4,050. Championed bye the efforts of Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas) – a letter signed by 54 Senators was sent to Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) and Ranking Member Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) requesting a significant increase in TRIO funding in FY 2005. Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL-18) and Donald Payne (D-NJ-10) sponsored a similar letter in the House of Representatives that was signed by 147 Representatives.
2004 Policy Seminar
Almost 600 TRIO Professionals and alumni attended the Council’s 2004 Policy Seminar in Washington DC. Participants visited 512 of the 535 Members of Congress. They received commitments from 300 Members of Congress who said they support maintaining the Prior Experience provision in the current TRIO law. However, many had added caveats to that support.
Congressional TRIO Caucus
Congressman Mike Simpson (R-ID-2) and Congressman Donald Payne (D-NJ-10) have agreed to Co-Chair the first Congressional TRIO Caucus in the House of Representatives. COE anticipates the Caucus will play a major role in pressing for increased appropriations for TRIO.
Council of Presidents
COE intends to establish a Presidents and Chancellors Advisory Council. The purpose of the Council will be to expand TRIO’s voice and visibility within the higher education community.
Department’s Monitoring of Institutions and Agencies
There were over 1,400 viewers of the April 22nd teleconference on site visits. The Council is also hosting another teleconference on Thursday, May 27th, 1:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. EDT that will review audits. Audits, unlike site visits, very often result in a determination that a grantee must return money to the federal government. The department is currently doing site visits on a total of 100 programs. Community agencies is the current focus for the department, as programs at institutions have another set of regulations they already follow.
Upward Bound Cost Per Student Task Force
The task force Co-Chairs, Joan Becker and Margaret Faust met with Departmental staff to convey the concerns regarding both the effect of the cap on the availability of the residential summer programs and of the consistency of the process under which waivers to the cap was granted. Mr. Oxendine agreed with two points put forward by the Committee. The department is currently looking at ways to create a differential in the cost per student cap for residential vs. non-residential students, in a way that does not penalize existing projects or reduce the absolute number of students served in Upward Bound.
State Initiative Matching Grants
Twenty-seven states submitted proposals for the State Initiative matching grants put forward by COE. The Committee sought for and received an extra $5,000 for a total of $10,000 to be distributed amongst the states that submitted proposals. The goals of these grants are to make state level lawmakers more aware of TRIO programs and the benefits of them. The two states that applied for funding this round were Arizona and the Pacific Islands. Arizona received $350 and Pacific Islands received $500 from the Council.
Scholarship Incentives
With support from USA Funds, the Council is working with ten chapters to increase access to privately funded scholarships amongst low-income students. In return for USA Funds scholarships to be awarded to students within each state, these chapters are researching local scholarship opportunities and inviting representatives of those programs to their state meetings. To support that initiative, the Gates Millennium Scholarship Program has agreed to offer free prep clinics to TRIO personnel in order to encourage more nominations by TRIO staff of TRIO students. These clinics will be held:
June 23, 2004 – Washington DC
July 27, 2004 – Chicago, IL
August 4, 2004 – Memphis, TN
August 20, 2004 – San Diego, CA
September 12, 2004 – San Antonio, TX
Pell Institute
COE is continuing to work on different papers on the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education. Efforts are still being followed up on student retention. The National TRIO Clearinghouse also has a new web-site. It is http://www.trioclearinghouse.org. The Pathways to College funding has been ended in the next budget.
COE Budget/Funding
Fair share is covered in COE Fair Share Committee. The Council has received a large grant from General Electric to help get the TRIO message out in today’s fast moving society. As the end of March, the Council has received 71% of budgeted, and expenses are currently 64% of budget. A budget for the next fiscal year has been passed. I will be sending hard copies to each Chapter President and can fax copies to any members who wish to see it.
Technology and Tools Conference
The Technology Tools for Instruction and Management will be held December 5-8, 2004 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This year’s conference focuses on assisting educational opportunity professionals, K-12 teachers and administrators, and college personnel to apply cutting-edge technology tools to program and classroom instruction and management, with special tracks for college and university presidents and vice presidents and GEAR UP attendees. National ASPIRA, Inc. is co-hosting the conference rather than our initial partner, ASPIRA of New Jersey.
Performance Reporting Computer Labs
The Council continues to strengthen and enhance Reporting and Tracking Computer Laboratories, making them more accessible to the TRIO community while increasing the quality of instruction. The Council’s database management workshops focusing on (1) program specific Annual Performance Report labs, and (20) non-program specific advanced workshops on Modifying Access Databases are scheduled as follows:
Modifying an Existing Access Database sessions for all TRIO staff:
April 18-19 in Miami, FL
June 21-22 in Washington DC
June 24-25 in Washington DC
August 5-6 in Memphis, TN
October 12-13 in Washington DC
Annual Performance Report Access Database sessions:
June 21-22 in Washington DC for EOC/TS only
August 2-3 in Memphis, TN for UB only
August 5-6 in Memphis, TN for SSS only
August 19-21 in San Diego, CA for UB, TS and EOC
October 17-18 in Washington DC for UB only
October 19-20 in Washington DC for McNair only
International Programs
TRIO 2004 had 25 SSS and McNair students were selected to participate in the summer study abroad program offered by the Council in conjunction with the University of Liverpool. GE has also selected four interns to work in their overseas business sites in Amsterdam, Toronto, Juarez (Mexico) and Mexico City. There were 50 applicants that applied for the eight-week assignments for projects for projects related to finance and accounting.
The continuing issue with regards to the inclusion of the entire Pacific Islands and students with disabilities will continue to be addressed with the Council. I will update the membership as information becomes available.
CAS Standards
The Council continues to work on getting TRIO Programs across the country to use the CAS Standards as part of the regular functions of each program. We are looking for three to four members who wish to be trained in the Standards during a pre-conference workshop at San Antonio. There will also be a workshop strand regarding the formulating and implementation of the CAS Standards.
Resignation of Board Members
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Amelia Manibusani has had to submit her resignation from the Board. Also, Kuye Belelai, would have like to serve on the Board, but has come across health issues again with the lengthy trip from Palau.[TOP]
