Source: Community College Week

This past spring several dozen high-school and college students from across the country, many donning academic caps and gowns, demonstrated in front of the U.S. Capitol in support of legislation known as The Dream Act. Introduced last October by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the bill would allow high-school graduates who are undocumented immigrants residing in the United States to pay in-state tuition at public colleges.

Though the measure has strong bipartisan support, it’s stalled in the Senate.

Each year, an estimated 40,000-75,000 undocumented high-school students graduate from U.S. high schools. Many “are in a ‘Catch-22′ situation,” according to Hatch, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. After graduation, “they cannot work legally. They are also effectively barred from developing academically because of the high cost of pursuing higher education.” Hatch penned the legislation–known as the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act–to help these students gain access to higher education.

At most public colleges–including community colleges–out-of-state tuition is between three and four times as expensive as instate tuition. For instance, at Northern Virginia Community College, in-state students pay $63.58 per unit each semester, or about $1,917 a year for a full-time load, while out-of-state students (and foreign students) pay $211 per credit, or $6,331 a year for a full-course load. At four-year colleges, tuition and fees are substantially higher–around $5,000 a year for in-state students and $20,000 a year for out-of-state students.

Federal law prohibits public colleges from allowing undocumented immigrants to attend as instate students. According to a provision of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act,”An alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a state for any postsecondary education benefits …” But the Dream Act would overturn this stipulation.

Sixty-three Senators support the bill, enough to guarantee passage. Senate Majority Leader Bill First, R-Tenn., said he would bring the measure to a vote in the Senate if more than 60 senators sponsored it; but he hasn’t yet done so.

Margarita Tapia, a spokeswoman for the Judiciary Committee, said, “Senator Hatch
is optimistic that it will pass before the end of the year.”

But others aren’t so sure.

“It’s an election year and people are going to be ill-at-ease to vote for something like this,” said Jim Hermes, senior legislative assistant at the American Association of Community Colleges. “It carriesall the usual stigmas on spending (taxpayer’s money) to support illegal aliens.”

“It’s a very bad policy,” said Louise Mattozzi, director of research and communication at NumbersUSA, an interest group that tracks immigration legislation. “It’s an amnesty for undocumented students, unfair to Americans (who have to pay out-of-state tuition) and would be an incentive (for) and encourage even more illegal immigration.”

But Tapia said Hatch thinks people don’t fully understand the specifics of the legislation.

For one thing, the provisions of the Dream Act would be optional, not mandatory, for individual states. The Dream Act would apply to a limited number of people, namely only those who:

* have resided in the United States for at least five straight years before the measure is enacted;

* were younger than 16 when they arrived;

* have not committed any crimes;

* have earned at least a highs chool degree in good standing; and

* have taken steps to obtain legal permanent residency.

In addition, every participant in the Dream Act would be required to register with Servis, the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System. This is the electronic foreign-student tracking system that was set up by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after the Sept.11 terrorist attacks. It gives immigration and law-enforcement agencies access to student data.

Most of all, according to Hatch, “the Dream Act was carefully drafted to avoid the precise problem of encouraging illegal entry into the U.S. Anyone who entered the United States less than five years prior to the enactment of the legislation or who plans to illegally enter the U.S. in the future will not be covered by the Dream Act.”

“The two big issues are really financial aid and citizenship,” said David Baime, vice president for governmental relations at the AACC. Neither of these issues are addressed in the legislation’s current incarnation.

While the Dream Act originally granted undocumented students access to state financial aid, that provision was eliminated at the last minute, by Sens. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, according to the AACC’s Hermes. Some loans may become available, but not grants, which don’t have to be paid back. Automatic citizenship isn’t included for participants.

The impact of the Dream Act may be minimal on community colleges even if it passes, it seems, although getting exact numbers is dicey. According to Hermes, there are an estimated 50,000-75,000 undocumented students graduating–or who have graduated–from high school this year. While many probably intend to go on to some kind of postsecondary education, immigration advocates say only 7,000-13,000 would be helped by the legislation.

“This is based on a low estimate of undocumented students,” Hermessaid.

Realistically, Hermes said, about 65,000 students would fit the criteria of the legislation. Of those, many live in states with large immigrant populations, such as Texas, California and New York, which already allow undocumented students to attend their community colleges–the Dream Act would simply remove the question of legality. And it’s hard to estimate how many undocumented students are in states with smaller immigrant populations, Hermes said, but the numbers might only stand in the thousands.

As the debate continues, almost half the states in the union have taken action on the issue of undocumented students and in-state tuition. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Texas, California and New York were the first states to allow undocumented students to attend college as in-state students; Delaware, Washington, Utah, Oklahoma and Illinois have also followed suit. States where there is legislation pending or that are considering the issue are Arizona, Alaska, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

According to the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, Maryland’s General Assembly passed a measure that would granting-state tuition to undocumented students, but Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. vetoed it. Meanwhile, the legislature in Virginia passed a bill barring undocumented students from obtaining instate tuition, but Gov. Mark Warner vetoed the measure.

BYLINE: By Ilana Fried, Daily Bruin; SOURCE: U. California-Los Angeles

Education, once considered a right, has become a privilege. It’s time the playing field be made more equal. This is why the Dream Act, a piece of legislation that would offer undocumented students a chance at legal residency, financial loans and in-state tuition, stands as an important and timely bill.

Currently pending in Congress, the Dream Act makes vital education more accessible to millions of people. Admittedly, and predictably, the Dream Act incites disagreement on campus. But, though the act certainly won’t polish American higher education into a flawless system, it is a step in the right direction. And it’s deserving of nationwide student support.

In every modern, civilized society, education must be considered a basic right. The same applies to higher education, which explains why the Dream Act has accumulated national bipartisan support. Our American values speak loud and clear: Denial of knowledge is wrong. Accessibility to knowledge must not be determined by nationality or citizen status. Instead, public universities must seek to empower all Americans, regardless of their documentation status.

The Dream Act proposes a realistic goal — undocumented students should be allowed to attend a university if they arrive in the United States before the age of sixteen, graduate from high school, and live in the United States for at least five years before the date of the bill’s enactment.

Here is a law with profoundly positive effects. The Dream Act assists students who already have made a firm commitment to their education and to this country. In other words, this bill targets a population that already lives, in broad terms, as Americans.

“There are certain people who have embraced what it means to be an American,” said Scott Gerber, spokesman for Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.). “And they should be supported instead of being pushed out of the system.”
(more…)