FW: [Student_Adjustment] Laws Hamper Immigrants' Quest for Educat ion

[Guest guest]

I cannot provide an answer to Norma's question but this article does provide

some good background information.

Cheers,

Lighthall, Ph.D.

Research Coordinator

Relational Culture Institute

1069 N. Fulton

Fresno, CA 93728

530 304-0038 (mobile)

david@...

-----Original Message-----

From: cvp@... [mailto:cvp@...]On Behalf Of

Armendariz,

Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2002 9:53 AM

david@...

Subject: FW: [student_Adjustment] Laws Hamper Immigrants' Quest for

Educat ion

College dreams face harsh reality

Laws in several states hamper immigrants' quest for education

By Gwen Florio

The Denver Post, October 20, 2002

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~11~936735,00.html

LOS ANGELES -- The academic firepower assembled in the college counselor's

office at Roosevelt High School here recently was enough to make a

recruiter's eyes flash green with acquisitive envy.

There was Pablo , ranked first in his class of 700 seniors, with a

weighted 4.075 grade-point average. He'd like to go to UCLA.

His friend , who was voted most likely to succeed and wants to

go to Stanford, was there, too, along with , nominated for the

same honor. Yuridia Estrada, with her 4.0 GPA, sat across the table from

class vice president Everardo Leon, who toted a calculus book and dreams of

attending Columbia University.

These smart sons and daughters of factory workers, day laborers and

cleaning ladies are the kinds of students sought by elite colleges and

universities eager for ethnic and economic diversity. But these students

can't afford to go even to state-funded schools, not because of their

status as illegal immigrants - as is the case in Colorado - but because of

the costs.

Although legislative initiatives in states like California, Texas and New

York have been heralded as compassionate moves to make higher education

accessible to otherwise qualified illegal immigrants, a review suggests

little large-scale effect on the problem.

While such measures theoretically narrow the costs of higher education by

allowing students who entered the country illegally to still qualify for

in-state tuition, the reality is that many undocumented families are still

unable to afford college tuition.

The issue is of particular interest in Colorado because of Jesus Apodaca,

an 18-year-old Aurora honor student who feared that the cost of

out-of-state tuition would keep him from attending the University of

Colorado at Denver. In-state students at CU-Denver pay $1,375 per semester;

out-of- state students pay $6,662.

After The Denver Post publicized Jesus' situation, U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo

sought to have the Apodaca family deported. U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse

has since introduced legislation to make Apodaca a permanent

resident of the United States. His legal proceedings remain on hold.

While Apodaca awaits a resolution, he's attending college - and paying

out-of-state tuition - thanks to an anonymous donor.

New laws aren't much help

The youngsters at Roosevelt High said fairy godmothers waving tuition wands

might be their best hope, too.

Their families often are poorly educated and work at minimum-wage or

under-the-table jobs. With some family incomes as low as $12,000 per year,

little is left over for college, said Loretta Hosokawa Hultman, a college

adviser at Roosevelt High.

Critics had sketched dire scenarios of undocumented students flooding state

institutions in California, New York, Utah and Texas, taking spots that

otherwise would have gone to U.S. citizens.

In California, the critics feared that passage of a law could imperil

higher out-of-state tuition fees charged to non-residents. They also argued

such a law would favor people who enter the country illegally over those

who use proper channels. But at the urging of immigration rights activists,

as well as Mexican President e Fox, the law was signed in October of

2001.

Despite the new legislation, only 32 of the 187,000 students in the

University of California system this past spring were likely undocumented,

said Hanan Eisenman, spokesman for the university system.

Fewer than 2,000 undocumented students were among the nearly 1 million

attending Texas state colleges and universities last spring. Utah's

legislation won't go into effect unless a federal law also is approved.

In Los Angeles, counselors at Roosevelt and other high schools with large

numbers of undocumented students are just realizing that the new law -

which went into effect last academic year - really isn't much help.

" Every year about this time, they come into my office and start to cry, "

said Roosevelt counselor Hultman.

Take , 17, whose single mother came here from Mexico City 16

years ago, with just one year of schooling. Her mother, Enedina ez,

58, supports on the $10,000 a year that she earns cleaning houses

and babysitting.

" I don't want her to suffer as I have, " said ez, speaking in Spanish.

She rides city buses two hours each way to her two housekeeping jobs,

leaving home before wakes up, returning when it's dark. Her earnings

pay for a ferociously neat second-story apartment in East Los Angeles but

leave nothing extra for just under $2,000 in annual tuition and fees at

California State University-Los Angeles, the cheapest university

could attend. Even community college, where she'll probably end up, will be

a stretch.

Berkeley, ' dream, isn't even worth talking about. " When I first

realized that, I got really sad, " said. Now she's resigned to her

reduced expectations, even if her mother isn't.

" I'm sad because I don't have money and I don't have papers, and that makes

things more difficult for , " ez said.

The difficulties extend to personal as well as financial situations.

was nominated as the girl in her senior class most likely to succeed. " But

the yearbook people said, 'She doesn't have papers. Don't put her in, " ' she

said. " I thought that was so cold. "

Unlike , will be in the yearbook as most likely to

succeed. " I'm not really straightforward about it, " said of his

status.

Undocumented students can apply for private scholarships that don't require

citizenship. But those usually amount to no more than a few hundred

dollars, said Hultman.

That could explain why California's colleges and universities weren't

overwhelmed by undocumented students after the new law passed.

The law doesn't specifically mention undocumented students. Instead, anyone

who attended a California high school for three years and graduated from a

state high school can pay in-state tuition. The laws in Texas, New York and

Utah are similar. High school attendance requirements keep the new laws

from violating federal law on residency. That law says the education

benefits that states provide undocumented immigrants must also go to

non-residents who are U.S. citizens.

The majority of California students now receiving in-state tuition under

the new law are U.S. citizens who may have lived in the state for three

years but whose parents, say, moved away at some point, said Eisenman of

the University of California. The university estimates that only 32 of the

281 students taking advantage of the new law last spring were undocumented.

" People viewed it as a tidal wave of undocumented students who will now be

attending our higher education institutions, but that frankly was not the

case, " said Juizar of the Los Angeles School Board.

Federal measure stalled

All four states require undocumented students to begin the process of

obtaining permanent residency before they can receive in-state tuition.

That doesn't count for much in the eyes of the laws' detractors.

" It's always difficult to argue society's interests versus Jesus Apodaca

sitting there on the front porch. ... You feel badly for these kids,

obviously, but there's a limit to how much more you can ask of taxpayers, "

said Ira Mehlman, West Coast spokesman for the Federation for American

Immigration Reform, which seeks to reduce immigration.

But Mehlman said the new laws likely will never be rescinded. Instead, he

said, FAIR will concentrate on making sure a federal law never is approved.

Bipartisan federal proposals are sponsored in the Senate by Republican

Orrin Hatch of Utah and Democrat Durbin of Illinois, and by Reps.

Cannon of Utah, a Republican, and Democrat Berman of

California.

" We cannot sit idly by while more minds and potential go to waste, " Hatch

told the Judiciary Committee in June, when the bill was voted out of

committee. The House version remains stalled.

" The advocates are from surprising quarters, " said , deputy

director of the National Immigration Forum. " It kind of goes to show when

you put a human face on this, when people see the stories behind the

policy, it might be time to change. "

wants to be one of those faces.

" In elementary school, people, my teachers, would tell me, 'You have to try

harder than anyone else. It's going to be harder for you.' I didn't

understand why, " said.

" Now I understand. "

__________________________________________________

Tiana J. Murillo

Research Assistant

National Immigration Law Center

1101 14th Street, N.W., Suite 410

Washington, D.C. 20005-5625

P: 202-216-0261

F: 202-216-0266