Posted on 01/11/2007 4:43:53 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
THE LEGISLATURE
Legislation would end Texas' pioneering law granting in-state rate, financial aid
Alex — like many students at the University of Houston — is balancing academics with a job. Without the luxury of wealth, he spends many days each week working construction to pay tuition.
But he faces one more obstacle on the way to a bachelor's degree — his immigration status.
Texas lawmakers have filed at least four bills that would abolish a groundbreaking state law that allows Alex, who asked that his last name not be used because he is in the country illegally, to pay cheaper in-state tuition rates and receive financial aid at UH.
"People shouldn't be denied an opportunity to do better," said Alex, who was born in Mexico, crossed the border with his family at 8 and graduated near the top of his class at J. Frank Dobie High School in the Pasadena school district. "That's why we came here."
The law's opponents say it's unfair to reduce tuition for undocumented students when not all citizens are eligible for the same discount.
"We have set things up so that our own citizens aren't being given the same advantages that illegal immigrants are receiving," said Rep. Debbie Riddle, a Tomball Republican who wrote one of the bills challenging the current law. "That's a problem."
The attention of lawmakers comes six years after Texas became the first state to offer illegal immigrants in-state tuition rates and financial aid. To be eligible, students must live in the state for at least three years, graduate from a Texas high school and promise to seek legal status as a permanent resident. Since then, nine states — California, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Utah and Washington — have adopted similar laws.
But some states have moved in the opposite direction. Arizona and Georgia, for example, passed laws last year requiring people to verify that they are U.S. citizens or in the country legally before they are eligible for public benefits, such as in-state tuition.
Federal lawmakers may reintroduce the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, known as the Dream Act, which would make students who live in the country for at least five years eligible for federal aid and put them on the path to permanent-resident status.
Wide gap in fees
Though it's unclear how other legislation will fare, Michael Olivas, director of the Institute for Higher Education Law and Governance at the UH Law Center, said he does not think the Texas bills will pass during the legislative session.
"This isn't the place," said Olivas, who supported the tuition law in 2001. "You need to remember that Rick Perry was the governor who signed this into law. I don't see the ground shifting."
Texans now pay about $8,700 a year to study business at the University of Texas at Austin while nonresidents pay nearly $23,000. At Houston Community College, in-district students pay $78.25 per semester hour while out-of-state students pay $291.25.
The difference is so great that higher tuition rates would close doors to undocumented students who are academically qualified, education experts said. Even with lower tuition rates, illegal immigrants are not eligible for federal financial aid.
More than 5,400 students benefited from the tuition law last spring, up from 393 in 2001, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
The majority of those students are illegal immigrants, although some may be the children of legal immigrants in Texas on certain visas, said Ray Grasshoff of the coordinating board.
Tatcho Mindiola Jr., director of the Center for Mexican American Studies at UH, said the numbers would be even greater if not for numerous challenges facing undocumented students. What's more, many illegal immigrants are simply unaware of the possibilities, he said. "I'm sure there are plenty of students out there who would go to college and who are qualified to go to college but don't," Mindiola said.
A future on the line
Chantal is studying biology at UH, but she is unsure of her future.
Born in France, she came to the United States as a child with her Vietnamese parents. While her legalization papers stalled in a bureaucratic backlog, she learned English and finished near the top of her class at Houston's Cesar Chavez High School.
She is planning to apply this year to medical school but worries that her immigration status will be a barrier.
"I'm afraid," said Chantal, who also wanted her last name withheld. "I'm afraid that I won't be part of something great."
Alex is also waiting to see what happens in Austin and Washington, D.C. He has joined an honors society and tutored younger students in English and math. He is on track to graduate next year.
The tuition law "has helped me immensely," he said. "Hopefully, it doesn't benefit just me."
Staff writer R.G. Ratcliffe contributed to this report.
matthew.tresaugue@chron.com
The top five Texas colleges and universities with the most students benefiting from the current tuition law, spring 2006:
• Houston Community College : 561
• Austin Community College: 213
• Dallas Brookhaven College: 213
• Dallas Richland College: 210
• UT at Austin: 207
Source: Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
The salient word is may.
I don't understand this. He doesn't want his last name used because he's in the country illegally, but because he's in the country illegally he gets lower tuition. Doesn't he have to tell someone he's here illegally to get the lower tuition for being here illegally?
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Texas Tuition Ping!
If you want on or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepmail me.
At Houston Community College, in-district students pay $78.25 per semester hour while out-of-state students pay $291.25."
So now Community College isn't good enough for the illegals? It's laughable.
sw
...so we know that there are illegals in our universities, we know who they are, but we're not sending them out because...?
My heart just bleeds. Most Universities are left wing towers anyway, shouldn't the Communists in charge just *give* these victims of white male oppression free educations?
There is no law anywhere in the USA regarding "failure to report an illegal immigrant".
And IMHO, it's way past time one was created.
It would save many more lives than banning smoking in public places, or requiring seat belts in autos.
But I would much rather see a "bounty system" instead of a law actually requiring citizenry reporting of suspected illegals.
Problem solved,real fast,real cheap and constitutionally.
I had to work my butt off to get where I am today as a citizen of this country and I was given very little in the way of support as these illegals are receiving. They are better off then most US families, because they and their children will not have to go into some of the similar debt that holds them back from other purchasing and lifestyle decisions. Plus they can more cheaply live in the neighborhoods that their ilk have taken over with inappropriate cultural behavior that chases US citizens out of. So we also pay more for housing.
Absolutely makes me lose any sort of hope for this country and makes me doubt further the halting of the successful usurpation of the US by Mexico. Just throw our hands up and give them our houses and paychecks oh and I better learn Spanish. That is going to be the future folks. F-ck.
...and Alex's classmates who happen to live in another state are also paying through the nose to subsidize this law breaker.
Now, I'm a college student too, and I have some sympathy for him, working his way up the ladder, but there is NO EXCUSE for breaking the law to get there.
Can they pay with Pesos?
Actually, the funny thing is that if they give them in-state tuition rates, then the illegals will clamor for federal financial aid. Due to their race, as well as the fact that they know how to work the system, watch as the financial aid pool dries up for even in-state students who are children of U.S. citizens and legal residents.
I teach some of these students (not in Texas, though), and I feel badly for them, since it was not their choice to come to the US illegally.
However, I feel worse for the students who live in poverty and are LEGALLY here, who are citizens of this country. The pie is only so big, and I don't think we should be giving pieces away when citizens are "starving" for their bite.
Sure!
At the out of state rate, with an additional 3% processing surcharge fee added to the same day currency exchange rate...
RACISMO!
This could be used to someones advantage. Not that I advocate it but if I really wanted into a Texas school bad enough I could simply rent a room in state apply but refuse to give them a SS# or anything that makes me a (gasp) US citizen and when accepted simply say I am illegal, swan across the river, took a job from a gringo and want my bonus for being a criminal. If they refuse accuse them of racism and get a fat check. It's win freakin' win baby /s
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