Victories for Children of Undocumented Immigrants in the Battle to Go to College

For our high school seniors, this school year will involve a lot of difficult decisions.  Where will they go to college?  What will they study? What do they want to do with their futures? 

But for students whose parents do not have legal immigration status, their options are sometimes more limited.  Several states have enacted laws in the past few years banning financial aid and in-state tuition to the children of undocumented immigrants, despite the fact that the students themselves are legal citizens of the United States. 

Without in-state tuition, costs can as much as triple for public higher education institutions.  George Mason University, for instance, charges $9,420 per year in tuition to full-time undergraduate residents of Virginia, while out-of-state undergrads pay around $27,564 a year, according to the GMU website.

For undocumented students, the situation is even bleaker.  According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, just 12 of the 50 states provide paths for undocumented students to receive in-state tuition, and South Carolina and Alabama have banned unauthorized immigrants from public university attendance all together. 

By and large, first-generation immigrant households fall into lower-income categories.  With hefty out-of-state prices and without the opportunity for financial aid, college can be an impossible feat for many families.

A recent federal court ruling gives a reason for hope, however.  The decision threw out Florida’s state regulations that make children of undocumented immigrants ineligible for in-state tuition and financial aid, The New York Times reported. 

According to the article, “Judge K. Michael Moore of Federal District Court in Miami found the regulations unconstitutional because they ‘create a second-tier status of U.S. citizenship,’ by denying benefits to the students in the lawsuit that were freely available to other Americans.”     

Judge Moore was also cited saying that the regulations failed to “advance any legitimate state interest,” while also hindering Florida’s goal of “furthering educational opportunities for its own residents.”

With Florida hosting the third-largest population of unauthorized immigrants, this ruling affects a large number of college-bound students.  A similar decision was also passed recently in New Jersey, home of the fifth-largest undocumented population, that outlaws in-state tuition bans for children of undocumented immigrants on similar grounds. 

Tuition equity bills, which would allow undocumented students the same access to in-state tuition as other residents, have been introduced in several states.  A few states are pushing even farther to provide undocumented students with access to financial aid and scholarships. 

With renewed hope that the DREAM Act will be passed, many are encouraged that the future will hold an education system which favors inclusion and in which all people, through hard work, will have equal access to opportunity.