Budget cuts may hit D.C. tuition grants The grants, a cornerstone of aid for the city's college-bound students, offset the out-of-state markup that D.C. students would otherwise pay to attend public colleges elsewhere. They also cover up to $2,500 a year for students who attend private colleges and universities in the D.C. area, or private, historically black colleges nationwide. About 6,000 students in this school year are projected to receive grants. But questions are emerging about the program's finances for the next school year. Officials in the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education, which administers the federal grants, are scrambling to gauge the impact of an annual funding cut estimated at $1.5 million due to the budget sequester. Ordinarily, the government provides $30 million a year for the grants. President Obama wants to raise that to $35 million. The sequester, an automatic cut, hit a host of government programs starting March 1. In addition, officials said, there appear to be hundreds more students applying for grants this year than in previous years. As a result, D.C. officials said, they started urging students this week to finish grant applications by April 30 to help the city plan disbursements. That push, as well as confusion over the agency's intentions, initially stoked fears Tuesday and Wednesday among high school counselors and parents that students would have to rush to get their applications turned in or risk losing out. D.C. officials said, however, that the application deadline of May 31 remains unchanged. Still to be determined is how much money will be available for each eligible student. "Some of those students may not get the maximum amount, or the amount they used to get," said Athena W. Hernandez, communications director for the superintendent's office. D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) said questions about the grants are frustrating. "It's a super big deal to parents," Cheh said, if the grants are reduced. She noted that May 1 is a key deadline for students to decide where to go to college. "Sometimes $5,000 can make a difference - are you going to go here or there?" she said. Parents and students need to have some certainty here, and they're not getting it. In February, federal budget issues led to a temporary suspension of scholarship funds for grant recipients now in college. That problem was solved in March when Congress enacted a spending bill for fiscal 2013. Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity Washington University, a Catholic women's school in Northeast Washington, said about 250 of the university's students rely on the grants. For them, McGuire said, the money is desperately needed. Too often, she said, students who should seek grants don't apply "because it's too confusing, too much convoluted paperwork."