Saying that the first two years of college should be as much of a birthright as twelve years of primary and secondary school, President Bill Clinton has asked the Congress to increase federal spending on education by $51 billion.

 In the budget Clinton submitted to the Congress on February 6, he asked for: $35 billion in tax credits for college tuition; and $16 billion in more funding for existing federal programs such as Head Start and Title I, and new initiatives such as the repair of crumbling school buildings -- particularly in cities.

 "It includes historically high levels of investment in every area of education from preschool to high school to college," Education Secretary Richard Riley said.

In his State of the Union address to Congress, Clinton said that investing in education had the same urgency as it had at the beginning of the Cold War. For higher education, the particular of the president's proposed budget include:

·         A 5 percent increase in TRIO programs, which help recruit low-income and minority students for college, from $500 million to $525 million for the fiscal year beginning in October. About half of the new funds, $13 million, would go to Talent Search, one of five of the major TRIO programs. The Education Department said it planned to make new awards in Talent Search as well as for Educational Opportunity Centers, which would receive $29 million in the new budget, up $3 million from current funding.

·         * A 3 percent increase in funding for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Although the increase is smaller than previous years, it is $4 million more than last year. Funding for the main HBCU program would increase from $109 million this year to $113 in 1998. Funding for HBCU graduate institutions would remain the same at $19.6 million. HCBUs, however, could receive an extra $2 million in the president's new budget for endowment grants. Congress provided no funds for this purpose during the past two fiscal years.