Thread: GA: Tuition law squeezes Tech illegal immigrant

Tuition law squeezes Tech illegal immigrant
Honor student likely to be forced to drop out

By BRIAN FEAGANS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/30/07

Only images of Jesus can compete for space on bedroom walls plastered with Marco's academic achievements.

Marco was valedictorian at Cross Keys High north of Atlanta. He scored a perfect 800 on the math portion of the SAT. And two years into his engineering major at Georgia Tech, he's one B removed from a 4.0 GPA.


RICH ADDICKS/Staff
A change in Georgia policy effective July 1 requires all students in the country illegally to pay out-of-state tuition, which will quadruple the cost for Marco (last name withheld), a Georgia Tech honor student who likely will be forced to drop out. Some states that have given waivers to such students have been sued by out-of-state students.


Keith Hadley/Staff
Jan Gonzales, 54, a Georgia newcomer and straight-A math student at Dalton State, thinks it's unfair that she paid out-of-state tuition while illegal immigrants paid the in-state rate and wants a refund. 'Many of us have had to overcome the poor choices our parents made,' she says.


Now, as Marco surveys the shrine-like displays in his parents' bedroom, the National Honors Society certificates and citizenship awards take on new meaning. The first in his family to go to college, Marco fears he may be the first to drop out, too. It's not by choice. His annual tuition at Tech is about to quadruple to more than $20,000. And Marco says he can't pay the bill.

Under a change in Georgia policy that takes effect July 1, all students who are in the country illegally must pay out-of-state tuition. That includes Marco, whose family moved to Georgia nearly a decade ago.

"I could be doing all this for nothing," says Marco, who agreed to share his story under the condition his last name be withheld.

Some 15 years ago, as migrant farm workers, Marco's parents brought him into the country illegally from his native Mexico. Marco was 4. He's never been back.

Marco focuses on a photo hanging above a glossy likeness of Jesus. There he is, smiling next to Gov. Sonny Perdue at the valedictorian luncheon in the Governor's Mansion.

It's hard to believe, Marco says. The hand he shook on the day marking his greatest educational achievement also signed the law preventing him from continuing at Tech in the fall.

SB 529, signed into law last year by Perdue, directed the Board of Regents to assure universities aren't giving illegal immigrants benefits prohibited under federal law. Whether in-state tuition qualifies as such a benefit is the subject of national debate. Some 10 states grant the lower rates to illegal immigrants, while others have rejected the idea as in conflict with federal law.

The battle often comes down to one critical question: Should the college hopefuls be treated as promising students who happen to be in the country illegally or as illegal immigrants who happen to be promising students?

John Millsaps, a regents spokesman, said the legislative intent in Georgia was clear: no in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. The regents don't know exactly how many students will be affected, but Millsaps says a ballpark estimate is 100.

The pendulum could swing the other way, however, if Congress passes legislation clarifying that states can offer in-state tuition to illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States as children. Portions of the so-called Dream Act made it into a tentative deal between Senate leaders and President Bush earlier this month. But the compromise is under attack and could unravel.

Marco says he doesn't need an engineering degree to know the U.S. immigration system doesn't compute. States are required to educate k-12 students regardless of immigration status, meaning they'll continue to spend millions producing college-ready students who may not have a real shot at college.

Marco finds it hard to believe the oranges and grapes of California's San Joaquin Valley would have been picked without Mexican migrants such as his parents. Same goes for the rooftops his dad now repairs in Georgia. Yet the current system, Marco says, makes it extremely difficult for them to gain legal U.S. residency.

An aunt who is a U.S. citizen applied for green cards on the family's behalf but was told approval is years away. Marco says his parents continue to pay their taxes, something they had to prove before Georgia Tech would grant him in-state tuition.

The laws of mathematics are different. They make perfect sense to Marco. Soft-spoken but confident, he says he's been good at numbers for as long as he can remember. Sibling rivalry took care of the rest. Marco and his older brother waged intense competition to see who could answer math questions first during a summer program for children of working parents in California.

Now the brothers, who share a bedroom in the family apartment off Buford Highway, operate as a team. Marco, 19, takes college courses. His 21-year-old brother works construction to pay for them.

Wavering on waivers

State Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), the architect of SB 529, said stories such as Marco's pull at heartstrings but are no reason to ignore federal law. A Georgia Tech grad, Rogers said he'd love to see Marco continue at his alma mater — if he gains legal U.S. residency.

"He is the type of young man that we would want in this country," Rogers said.

In Georgia, each university president can issue in-state tuition "waivers" for up to 2 percent of the student body. The recipients are often athletes and international students. And up until now, some presidents had given them to high-achieving illegal immigrants who might not otherwise be able to attend college.

Rogers said it makes no sense to subsidize the education of people who aren't able to work legally in the United States upon graduation. SB 529, he said, simply reminded the regents of a federal law stating that illegal immigrants "shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a state for any post-secondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit."

States such as California and Kansas have found a creative way around that. They link in-state tuition to graduation from a state high school, not residency alone.

But, as Rogers points out, those states also have been sued by out-of-state students who argue they shouldn't have to pay more than any illegal immigrant, no matter how talented.

Paying the price

They are students much like Jan Gonzales.

Gonzales, 54, is a straight-A math whiz in her first year at Dalton State College. A newcomer to Georgia, she is trying to rebuild a life nearly destroyed by a house fire in Utah. Gonzales has had to take out more than $6,000 in loans, work as a cashier and clean apartments until she qualifies for in-state tuition.

Gonzales, a U.S. citizen, said she didn't mind paying four times what Georgia residents do until learning that roughly 40 Dalton State students paying the lower rates were illegal immigrants. Gonzales has asked the college to reimburse the $2,500 difference between out-of-state and in-state tuition for the spring semester. If it doesn't, she plans to sue.

Gonzales says a tumultuous upbringing is one reason it has taken until now, at an age when many are eyeing retirement, to become the first in her family to attend college. "Illegal aliens who want in-state tuition say that their parents brought them here," she said. "Many of us have had to overcome the poor choices our parents made."

Gonzales cracks a window in her sparsely decorated apartment and puffs on a Marlboro Light. Don't get her started on what's fair, she says. After her caretaker uncle committed suicide, Gonzales dropped out of high school in her native Southern California. She worked her way up to a hotel accounting position, only to quit to care for her ailing mother, suffer a blood clot herself and watch her home burn to the ground.

Gonzales hits speed dial on her cellphone. "My one and only daughter," Gonzales says, putting her daughter on speaker phone. "What's fair?"

Her daughter lets out a not-again-mother moan. "It's what you pay," she says, "when you get on the bus."

19 credits, one 'B'

Marco takes two buses during his hourlong commute to Georgia Tech. And last semester he had enough classes — six in all — to keep him there all day. Knowing tuition was about to skyrocket, Marco signed up for a whopping 19 credits.

The heavy load came with one casualty: his 4.0 GPA. Two years into a double major in electrical and computer engineering, Marco received his first B.

"Differential Equations," he says, still stunned. "I don't know what happened. I'm going to challenge it."

Marco plans to drop out for a while and work until he has enough money to return to Tech. With no green card, he doesn't qualify for student loans and most scholarships.

"It will be tough taking a break," he says, "then going back to class and trying to remember everything."

Standing in his parents' room, Marco scans a letter Perdue sent after the valedictorian banquet.

"I commend you for making your education a top priority," the July 2005 letter from Perdue reads. "Your efforts reflect well on the entire State of Georgia. ... Regardless of where your future takes you, you will always be part of the Georgia family."

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/ ... ition.html

All that free education, such a high GPA and the dumbazz cannot comprehend what "ILLEGAL" means. Guess he should have taken reading comprehension 101 instead of so many math courses. I have NO SYMPATHY for you or your problems. If you have complaints you should be crying to your parents. THEY put you in this position, not the tax paying American people that have funded your free ride until NOW. I/WE do not owe you a damned thing.

Personally speaking, the fact that he's illegal and is even HERE and being allowed to go to a U.S. college in the first place is, in and of itself, quite enough of a "break" for this kid.

I mean, how greedy can he get? He shouldn't even be in the U.S. in the first place, much less attending our universities at a reduced rate.

It's totally unfair for U.S. citizens to have to pay out-of-state tuition when these illegals get to pay in-state tuition. It's good to hear there are lawsuits taking place. And if this amnesty bill passes, then every student in the U.S. who pays out-of-state tuition should file a lawsuit!!!!!!!

These illegals make me sick. They just whine and cry about how our government doesn't give them enough. Poor Pedro is a good student....poor Juan works hard toiling in the fields...blah blah blah. Well, I work hard too!!!!! And so do most of the people I know. But that doesn't change the way things are. If I wanted to go back to college in another state, I'd have to pay out-of-state tuition. And no amount of whining and moaning would change that.

I'm so sick of these pathetic leeches!!!!!! Just send them the hell back to where they came from and let them whine to their own government!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by JadedBaztard

All that free education, such a high GPA and the dumbazz cannot comprehend what "ILLEGAL" means. Guess he should have taken reading comprehension 101 instead of so many math courses. I have NO SYMPATHY for you or your problems. If you have complaints you should be crying to your parents. THEY put you in this position, not the tax paying American people that have funded your free ride until NOW. I/WE do not owe you a damned thing.

I agree, I don't have any sympathy for this guy. He was just skating by cause it benefited him.

Marco finds it hard to believe the oranges and grapes of California's San Joaquin Valley would have been picked without Mexican migrants such as his parents. Same goes for the rooftops his dad now repairs in Georgia. Yet the current system, Marco says, makes it extremely difficult for them to gain legal U.S. residency.

They would be picked by AMERICANS, if the wages were fair!! Oh spare me this 'poor immigrant' sob story. It's the new reality kid, illegal is illegal!