U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski chose McDaniel as the site of her Feb. 27 news conference, which focused primarily on the need to make college more affordable through increased federal funding. Mikulski also spoke about the recently released report, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm,” which recommends programs that would increase U.S. standing in science, mathematics and technology.

But financial aid for college students led the Senator’s agenda.

“For many students, student loans are their very first mortgage,” Mikulski said to the audience of 150 people from both the local community and the college community. McDaniel President Joan Develin Coley and two students, Jennifer Beckwith ’09 and Joshua Russin ’07, joined Mikulski at the podium. 

The Democrat from Maryland explained her plan, which would provide a tuition tax credit of up to $4,000 per student each year they attend college. The credit would apply to full-time, part-time and non degree-seeking students.

Supported at McDaniel by grants, scholarships, and other financial aid, Russin explained paying for college can be a challenge.

“The lack of an affordable education will hinder others from gaining knowledge and opportunities that college has to offer,” the junior Political Science major said. “This liberal arts philosophy that I was nourished with by McDaniel College would not have been attainable without generous financial aid.”

About 85 percent of McDaniel’s 1,600 students receive merit- and need-based scholarships and grants from the College. During the 2005-2006 academic year, financial-aid awards from the College totaled $18 million.

Beckwith, a freshman Biology major with aspirations of becoming a pediatrician, is among that number.

“The College worked closely with me, as it does with every student who is accepted, to find financial solutions so that I could attend,” she said.

Before the news conference, Mikulski and Coley discussed the importance of teaching sciences, technology and mathematics in order to keep America competitive.

“Education is not just a private good,” Coley says. “It is a public good and is critical for our country.”

Senator Mikulski recently helped introduce the PACE Act, which includes provisions to increase mathematics, science and engineering scholarships and graduate fellowships, offers tax credits for employers who support continuing education for practical scientists and engineers, and continues to improve visa processing for international students and scholars.

“One of the characteristics of the American spirit is innovation and discovery,” Mikulski says. “We want to make sure in the 21st century we have jobs that stay in this country. We need to create new ideas that lead to new products and lead to new jobs.”

Mikulski chose to visit McDaniel, in part, because of its renowned programs educating the next generation of teachers. She congratulated professor of education Skip Fennell for his new position as president-elect of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the world’s largest mathematics education organization. Fennell later said he was surprised to receive recognition from the senator.

“I’m honored that she mentioned me,” he later said.

“It all begins at places like McDaniel,” Mikulski told the audience. “You’re training teachers and have national stars [like Fennell] on your faculty. You’re training the next generation to follow their dream.”

Mikulski, who is serving her fourth term in the U.S. Senate, began her career in politics in 1971, when she won a seat in the Baltimore City Council. She also served in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1986, she earned her Senate seat and became the first Democratic woman to win election in both houses of Congress and the first woman to win a statewide election in Maryland.