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  1. #1
    Senior Member Brian503a's Avatar
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    No more borders to state financial aid?

    http://www.modbee.com/local/story/12612 ... 8393c.html

    No more borders to state financial aid?
    Legislation could put cash for college in hands of undocumented immigrants


    By MERRILL BALASSONE
    BEE STAFF WRITER

    Last Updated: August 20, 2006, 06:49:38 AM PDT

    Twice a week, Ana Gonzalez rises early and leaves the two-bedroom house she rents in Livingston to take criminal justice, business and communication classes at California State University, Stanislaus.
    At night, she waits tables at a Mexican restaurant and takes jobs driving a forklift or fertilizing almond trees to ensure she can stay in school part time.

    As an undocumented immigrant, Gonzalez, 22, is not eligible to receive state financial aid, but that soon could change.

    A state Senate bill, known as the "California Dream Act," will be put to a vote by Aug. 31, said Francisco Estrada, director of public policy for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. If passed, it would require community colleges and state universities and strongly recommend all University of California campuses to allow undocumented immigrant students to apply and compete for financial aid.

    The federal DREAM Act would extend in-state tuition and financial aid benefits for undocumented immigrants who graduate from high schools across the United States.

    The new bill was preceded by Assembly Bill 540 in 2001, which allows students who have spent three years in a state high school and earned a diploma or its equivalent to pay in-state tuition at California public universities and col-leges. The student must sign a statement with the college, promising to apply for legal residency as soon as possible.

    The difference between in-state and out-of state tuition saves a student about $10,000 a year at Stanislaus State, said Roger Pugh, associate vice president for enrollment management.

    But with books, housing and transportation costs, the university estimates the cost of a year of education for a full-time student at more than $12,000, Pugh said.

    "We have students working full time at McDonald's and stretching their education out eight years," Pugh said. "Every one of these students has a story."

    Admissions counselor Carolina Alfaro said she provides undocumented students who want to apply with a list of private scholarships, but the number of opportunities are few for undocumented immigrants and the competition is fierce. Students may apply for more than 25 scholarships to have a decent shot at earning one, she said.

    Dream deferred

    As a result of the costs, many undocumented students first attend community colleges so they can pay their way through school, Alfaro said. That can be costly, too.

    Renato Guerrero, 26, received his acceptance letter from the University of California at Berkeley in 1998, before the law was passed allowing undocumented students to pay in-state tuition. He became a permanent U.S. resident two weeks before the start of school.

    Guerrero graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering and recently received his citizenship, nearly nine years after he applied for it. Guerrero said he would not have been able to afford the out-of-state fees to attend college.

    "It was a very nervous time for me," he said. "There was no backup plan. Even junior college would have been very expensive."

    As a high school student in Delhi, Gonzalez twice served as student body president, tutored at a local elementary school, played three sports and graduated with a nearly perfect grade point average.

    Her parents, who were both legal U.S. residents, brought Gonzalez from Guanajuato, Mexico, when she was 3 years old.

    Gonzalez's mother did not petition to get legal status for her daughter until 1994.

    Halfway through Gonzalez's senior year in high school in 2001, her mother died of cancer.

    "She died, and the case died along with her," Gonzalez said.

    Gonzalez said she had hoped to attend a private college on the East Coast, but without access to financial aid, it was impossible.

    "I always had that dream to fill out a Harvard application," she said. "But I guess that's life."

    'A finite resource'

    With as many as 65,000 undocumented immigrants graduating from U.S. high schools each year, opponents argue that allowing these students access to the university system and financial aid money will strain resources.

    "The bottom line is, we are talking about a finite resource," said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Federation for American Immigration Reform. "Each time you admit someone to UCLA or Berkeley who is in country illegally, you are saying no to someone else."

    Mehlman said that asking for the public to fund the education of undocumented students through financial aid programs "adds insult to injury."

    "We're taking this already scarce resource and saying to people who played by the rules, 'We're sorry, we're taking this money from you and giving it to people who have no business being in the country in the first place,'" Mehlman said.

    Gonzalez said she understands those who would oppose her receiving financial aid, but said she thinks the community as a whole would benefit from creating a more-educated work force.

    "I'm not a citizen, but I've spent 20 years of my life here," she said. "I'm not scared. I'll go as far as I have to go and won't stop for anything. I'm trying to do what I think my mom wanted for me, which was to get a career and not be working in the fields."

    Bee staff writer Merrill Balassone can be reached at 578-2337 or mbalassone@modbee.com.
    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at http://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  2. #2
    Senior Member crazybird's Avatar
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    The bottom line is, we are talking about a finite resource," said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Federation for American Immigration Reform. "Each time you admit someone to UCLA or Berkeley who is in country illegally, you are saying no to someone else."

    Exactly......to a LEGAL AMERICAN CITIZEN! Who has worked just as hard, who is trying to better their life, who wants to make mom and dad proud too. My dad was raised in total poverty. He wasn't a first generation or second or third or even fourth generation "immigrant" comming here. It hasn't been that long since it was an accomplishment to get through highschool. Especially if you were poor. Generations of legal citizens are still keeping the dream alive for their children. And now after all that, we're just supposed to back off because this first round made it through highschool
    and feels they "deserve" a fast track to success at our expense? I'm white and beleive me there was no free ride. I had to work for it! I could have gone further but I simply couldn't afford it. So...you pass on the dream and the hope to your kids and hopefully have them do better.
    Now they are supposed to just "forget it"?
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  3. #3
    Senior Member Richard's Avatar
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    Ms Gonzalez you want to be in a position of advantage seeking opportunity head south!

    We have already given you a quality education at our expense and you have much a higher level of education than most Mexicans. You can get a job thre easier than the families who were the immigration law abiders.
    I support enforcement and see its lack as bad for the 3rd World as well. Remittances are now mostly spent on consumption not production assets. Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

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