In his latest column, Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister says Dillard University President Walter Kimbrough got it wrong in a letter recently published by The Advocate, in which the historically black university president attacked the TOPS scholarship program.
“Sadly, TOPS is more of an engine of inequality than it is of opportunity,” Kimbrough wrote, going on to say: “The most telling demographic factor impacting TOPS is family income. Most recipients come from families whose household incomes are ‘significantly higher’ than the state median average” of $44,000.
McCollister says Kimbrough is flat-out wrong in his assessment that “TOPS is structured to give money to top students, from top-income families, who attend top schools with top curriculums.”
“Does Kimbrough know the origins of this program?,” McCollister writes in his column. “It was called the ‘Taylor Plan’ back in 1988, when Patrick Taylor was asked to speak to 183 underachieving, inner-city seventh- and eighth-grade students at Livingston Middle School in New Orleans East. Taylor challenged the poor children and offered to pay their way to college. Half of those original ‘Taylor Kids’ graduated from high school, and half of that group graduated from college.”
McCollister says Kimbrough wants to use data to attribute to household income the lack of success and access by many.
“But let’s examine other data that impacts household income,” McCollister writes. “Isn’t it safe to say that a two-income family likely would have a higher income than a single-income household? So, should two parents who are married and both working be penalized for that—and their children who study and achieve be denied TOPS?”
McCollister says data could be used to show that a two-parent home positively impacts household income as well as a child’s prospects for graduating from high school.
“I believe President Kimbrough knows there is opportunity for anyone who wants to seize it in America—and that includes the opportunity for a college education,” he writes. “Enough with the excuses and blame.” Read the full column. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
