Issue Position: Poverty

Issue Position

Implementing Free Tuition for Community College
One of the first promises I made to you was to make a college education more affordable and accessible to students in our District, in our County, and in the State of Maryland.

Rooted in my own experiences of growing up in poverty and raised by a single mom who did not have even a high school degree that commitment only grew stronger as I traveled around our District and spoke with many students, families, and parents overwhelmed by the burdens of college costs and college debt. As the first in my family to graduate from college, I clearly remember the fiscal barriers that can make a college education unattainable.

Right now, only 30% of the population in Prince George's County over the age of 25 has a bachelor's degree, while in several of the lowest income communities, less than 15% of the population has a bachelor's degree.

Following my election in 2014, I got to work to lead the debate on college affordability in Maryland. Beginning in 2015, I proposed legislation to establish the Maryland Higher Education Outreach & College Access Program. This program, which received $250,000 of funding last year, provides grants to non-profit organizations that help low-income students apply for and enroll in college.

In 2016, I supported the College Affordability Act of 2016 and the Next Generation Scholars of Maryland Fund which will provide student debt relief and support various college access services.

Most importantly, in 2017, I established the Prince George's Promise Scholarship Task Force to study how we could implement free tuition at Prince George's Community College. Last year, $1.7 million was allocated in the County's budget to initiate the program, and now, we are sending 500 new students a year to Prince George's Community College for free.

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