Thread: WA. Effort tries to get illegal aliens college aid

Ef fort tries to get illegal immigrants college aid

MANUEL VALDE, Associated Press
By MANUEL VALDES, Associated Press
Published 10:23 a.m., Monday, September 3, 2012

With the federal government giving young illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children a chance to stay in the country, advocates in Washington state are relaunching efforts to open state financial aid to college students who don't have documents.

"Now these kids can live and work here without fear of deportation," said Ricardo Sanchez, chairman of the Latino/a Educational Achievement Project, the main group behind the effort. "The financial aid makes more sense."

But Sanchez faces an uphill battle in Olympia.

The state's financial aid pot - the needs grant program - is already strained after years of economic woes and rising tuition costs. Despite lawmakers providing additional money, more students who qualify aren't getting aid because demand keeps growing.

More so, state financial aid is often tied with federal aid, something that students who qualify under the program can't apply for.

Add the reluctance by lawmakers, including conservatives ones, and opposition from some constituents to give financial aid to students who entered the country without proper documentation.

"The state is in the hole by significant amounts of money. We're gonna give significant resources to people who I think were given illegally a legal status," said Bob West, chairman of Grassroots of Yakima Valley, a tea party group that started as an organization to lobby for strict immigration enforcement in Olympia.

West, who three years ago testified against a similar bill, said that expanding the eligibility would act as further encouragement for immigrants to come to the country away from official channels.

"I realize that families come here and come here with small children, who are obviously not making the choice," said Craig Fisher, another member of West's group. "They come here to have a better life, if they come here for that and if the children and the children are benefited, that's another incentive for the parents. I think it's better if we approach it for the standpoint of legal immigration."

In June, President Barack Obama's administration announced that young illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children are able to apply for two-year permissions to stay in the country if they meet certain requirements.

The Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals could expand the rights of more than 1 million young illegal immigrants nationwide. They are able to apply for work permits as well, though they don't obtain legal residency here or a path to citizenship. Under the rules, people who qualify for the program can also be current students.

Dovetailing with the new program, Sanchez plans to lead an effort to get a measure passed in Olympia during the next legislative session that would make young illegal immigrants eligible for state financial aid.

He tried in 2009, but the measure didn't make it past committees controlled by Democrats.

Sanchez said the amount money that the new allocation would increase is small compared to the overall pot.

Sanchez argued that these students and their parents have contributed their share to Washington's economy. They pay taxes - the chief source of income for the state's general budget. And many of the students who would benefit are children of agricultural workers, who help maintain one of the state's chief economic sectors.

"What's at stake is giving kids hope," Sanchez said. "Often times for any child in poverty, they don't understand what higher education means or what it costs, it's especially true for undocumented students, especially for their parents who don't have the slightest clue. If kids grow up saying to themselves, I'm not going to college because I'm an illegal alien ... it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Students who are illegal immigrants already qualify for in-state tuition.
The state estimated in 2009 that making illegal immigrants who are students illegible for financial aid would cost about $7 million by the 2011-2013 budget cycle. State analysts assumed the change in eligibility would add more than 1,000 students statewide in any given year.

But Rachelle Sharpe, director of financial aid at the Washington Student Achievement Council, said it's really not known how many students who are illegal immigrants are in the state, much less if they would apply for college.

Those estimates, she said, were given to provide lawmakers an idea of increment.

Should the bill pass, the added students would likely be absorbed into the already growing demand for state financial aid. Even if eligibility is expanded to these students, it's not guaranteed they would receive aid.

Only 2 percent of all students who receive state grants only get state money, she said.

Students who qualify for the program cannot apply for federal student aid, said U.S. Department of Education spokesman Justin Hamilton.

In 2011-2012, the state needs-grant pot was $266 million, according to the Washington Student Achievement Council. The agency estimated that it number would increase to more than $300 million in the following year.

About 74,000 students received the state needs grant, but more than 31,000 who were eligible did not receive funding in the 2011-2012 school year, the agency reported.

Sen. Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney, a Democrat from Seattle, said there seems to be more support in the senate this year, which would be a bigger hurdle to pass than the lower chamber, if the current Democrat-Republic split holds.

"We want to see more kids graduate from high school," Kenney said.

Effort tries to get illegal immigrants college aid - seattlepi.com

"Now these kids can live and work here without fear of deportation," said Ricardo Sanchez, chairman of the Latino/a Educational Achievement Project, the main group behind the effort. "The financial aid makes more sense."

Wonderful, just we all wanted. NOT!

Ricardo Sanchez, chairman of the Latino/a Educational Achievement Project,

Too bad they advocate based on ethnicy instead of citizenship. It seems to me that that these people deny that US citizenship has any value if it gets in the way of figuring out yet another way for illegal aliens to be able to tap into the money stream.

Let me see, how has the last 25 years has worked out? MMMhmmm, Amnesty is granted encouraging more illegals. Dems. see opportunity and do not discourage illegals but estaglish social programs in their favor, now they, the advocates for "undocumented," are advocating for even higher educational benefits, and now those that have achieved higher education are now gaining and some have achieved high political office.

ahem. , But on the other side, taxes are cut (in the beginning by the same admin. that granted amnesty), large contributions become larger, so larger contibutions become even larger, so more advocacy for lower taxes, SCOTUS negates limitts on poltical advocacy spending by super pacs. Now political contributions are made in millions from individuals to super pacs of the original amnesty granting party. Are'nt political contributions in the millions a silent/voluntary tax of some kind.

End result up to now, real income for the middle class is lower. Class warfare is nearing but both parties deny any responsibility in the creation of that. Organizations, such as this very one, has to struggle to stay alive, to advocate for the American working class. It is probably (but I am not privy to exact info) relying on small contributions from more like myself that are just making it.

What is it that I'm missing here? It seems to me that these results are the responsibillity of a two party system rather than responsibllity of one party. Is it not either/both parties goal to become THE party, whether it is said or unsaid? If that was achieved, the superior PARTY totally makes irrelavant the old adage that "all politics is local?"

I for one do not beleive that would be the purpose of the Constitution of The United States of America as intended by those that created it, or those that have bravely given their lives to defend it.