Thread: TX: Illegal immigrants may see tuition hike

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 62515.html

Jan. 11, 2007, 2:11PM

THE LEGISLATURE
Illegal immigrants may see tuition hike
Legislation would end Texas' pioneering law granting in-state rate, financial aid

By MATTHEW TRESAUGUE
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

HELPING STUDENTS

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

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

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