St. Louis Community College Opts to Allow In-State Tuition for Undocumented Students




US Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis greets a student while touring the Emerson Center for Engineering and Manufacturing at St. Louis Community College - Florissant Valley in 2012. The SLCC has adopted a new tuition policy that benefits undocumented students in Missouri. (Photo : US Dept. of Labor)

It is apparently not necessary to wait for a government DREAM Act to make a change that benefits undocumented children looking for educational opportunities in the U.S. The St. Louis Community College system in Missouri has adopted its own new policy that allows undocumented immigrants to pay lower tuition than international rates normally require.

"Undocumented Students with a US high school transcript will be admitted to St. Louis Community College and will be eligible to pay maintenance fees based on their residence in accordance with existing residency requirements," the school's new policy reads.

"Undocumented students are not eligible for federal financial aid."

The move is being lauded by Latino groups that have pushed for the government to allow similar exceptions for students in other states.


"The door is cracked open a little bit for some students," said Faith Sandler, executive director of the Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "It's a great move on the part of the community college. Hopefully, others will follow."

According to the Post-Dispatch, the University of Missouri-St. Louis is also considering adopting a similar policy.

Under the new policy, undocumented students residing within the normal residency district of the college will see their tuition costs cut from an international rate of $209 per credit hour to $98. Other students will pay $144 as long as they reside within the State of Missouri.

While there are many who advocate against offering in-state rates for undocumented students by saying that it is detrimental to the local taxpayer, Virginia Braxs, a college Spanish professor and president of Universidad Ya!, says that is an inaccurate assessment.

"(Undocumented students) cannot apply to federal aid, so, on the contrary, we are benefiting from the taxes they pay because they are working, but they do not get any benefit," Braxs told the Riverfront Times. "So that's a misconception that people have.

"This community of young people is graduating from high school. They face huge barriers. They make great sacrifices -- all my students work-part time through high school and college to contribute to their families.

It's really a struggle because you don't have too much time to study if you have to work and you're contributing to your family. But at the same time, you want to finish and go on."

http://www.latinopost.com/articles/2...d-students.htm