Local angle
Washington and Oregon are among 15 states that have statutes allowing students who are in the U.S. without legal permission and were brought to this country as children by their parents to be eligible for in-state tuition.
In addition, the Washington state Senate approved a measure Friday to expand college financial aid to include those students. Senate Bill 6523 now heads to the House for consideration.
WASHINGTON — Giancarlo Tello paid $14,000 more than other New Jersey high school graduates to attend Rutgers University, the state’s flagship public college.
Why the difference?
Tello spent much of his childhood in the U.S. without legal permission after his parents moved from Peru when he was 6.
That changes if he re-enrolls this fall, as he plans, thanks to a law recently signed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie that provides in-state tuition to immigrants like him.
Supporters of immigrants’ rights are energized because after years of contentious fights, New Jersey and three other states passed statutes last year that will allow such students who came to the U.S. when they were minors to pay in-state tuition.
Fifteen states now have such a statute, said Ann Morse of the National Conference of State Legislatures. In addition, university boards in Hawaii, Michigan and Rhode Island have granted these students in-state tuition. To qualify, high school graduates typically must meet requirements such as living in a state for a set number of years.
Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Mississippi, New Hampshire and Virginia have bills under consideration that would extend the in-state benefit, said Tanya Broder, a senior attorney with the National Immigration Law Center.
Supporters next plan to step up lobbying on a related issue: making these students eligible for state financial aid, including scholarships or grants. Already, California, New Mexico and Texas have laws spelling out this right, and it is under consideration in states such as Washington.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., filed a bill in Congress that would provide money to states that offer in-state tuition or financial aid to these students.
“It’s an economic issue, and it’s an issue of fairness,” Murray said.
In this time of financial austerity, the bill faces a difficult road.
The students are known as “Dreamers” — from the shorthand for legislation stymied in Congress that provides a way for them to permanently remain in the U.S. The measure’s full title is the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM Act).
Lacking legal immigration status, the students typically aren’t eligible for federal financial aid and many other aid programs.
But in many cases they are able to remain in the United States under President Barack Obama’s 2012 “deferred action” program. That allows immigrants brought into the United States without legal permission as children by their parents to obtain temporary resident status for two years. The status is renewable.
Tello and Yves Gomes, 21, who was brought to the U.S. from India as a toddler, signed up.
Gomes attends the University of Maryland and pays in-state tuition, which he had lobbied for. But he says in some cases that isn’t enough. He called for state and other financial aid, especially for those who don’t qualify for Maryland’s in-state tuition benefit.
Tuition and fees for Maryland residents come to about $9,000 this academic year, compared with more than $28,000 for those from other states. That doesn’t include thousands more in room and board.
“I met so many friends who are off and on in school just because they have to take time off to help their families put food on the table. You have to survive,” Gomes said.
The issue of what educational benefits should be available to immigrants living illegally in the country has been contentious. Critics say helping the students encourages unlawful behavior and means they potentially take someone else’s seat at taxpayers’ expense.
About 65,000 students living illegally in the country graduate annually from high school and about 5 percent to 10 percent of them go to college, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities has estimated.
