Charlotte’s students are in trouble. Severe school budget cuts, teacher layoffs, and an endangered library system are putting the future quality of Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s learning institutions in danger. Add this to decreasing, yet persistently high, drop-out rates, and it’s clear we have a problem.
A recent Huffington Post article examines the implications of the nation’s drop-out crisis:
Just 55 percent of Latino, 51 percent of African-American, and 50 percent of Native American students finish high school with a diploma…Reducing the dropout rate makes sense for individual students, but it also makes strong economic sense for the nation. For example, a study by the Alliance for Excellent Education finds that cutting the dropout rate in half for just one high school class in the nation’s fifty largest cities would result annually in $4.1 billion in additional earnings, 30,000 additional jobs, and $5.3 billion in economic growth. That’s an economic stimulus package that everyone should be able to get behind.
Minorities bear the brunt of this drop-out trend. In particular, many Latino students — including here in Charlotte — face an interesting dilemma. Many are not citizens and, since they do not qualify for loans or grants, know they cannot afford to pay for college. This is one of many factors contributing to high drop-out rates among the nation’s young Hispanic population.
Paulina Ameneyro, co-valedictorian of Garinger’s graduating class this year,is well-acquainted with this problem. As reported by The Charlotte Observer, Ameneyro has been accepted to both Queens University and N.C. State, but cannot afford to pay the out-of-state tuition her undocumented legal status requires of her. The article goes on to say that:
Thousands of other illegal immigrants face the same issue. Brought here by parents or relatives, an estimated 65,000 graduate from U.S. high schools each year only to face steep college bills without federal financial aid…
Eleven states have laws allowing in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. They allow in-state rates if students graduate from state high schools and have two to three years residence in the state, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
In most, the student must sign an affidavit promising to seek legal status.
On the other hand, South Carolina in 2008 became the first state to ban illegal immigrants from attending state-supported universities.
Ameneyro’s hope for a college degree rests with the Dream Act, proposed legislation to allow students to qualify for financial aid no matter what their legal status. Starting on May 28, candle-light vigils and acts of fasting occurred nationwide in support of passing the Dream Act, as reported by the local Spanish-language newspaper Mi Gente.
One vocal opponent of the act is Ron Woodard, director of the conservative immigration enforcement group N.C. Listen. His comments about Ameneyro’s case are:
“It’s wonderful for someone to try to get an advanced degree, but the first thing she’s doing is taking a position at N.C. State that doesn’t belong to her because she’s not a citizen. I wonder what the person who would have gotten her space would say about her complaining about paying out-of-state tuition.”
Others disagree:
Paulina is a perfect example of why it makes sense to have comprehensive immigration reform,” said Ruben Campillo, N.C. director for Reform Immigration for America, an advocacy group seeking a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
“We have many, many students like Paulina who are at the top of their classes…. They have embraced our values and culture, but they find at graduation that they won’t be allowed to continue.”
Charlotte attracts more and more Latinos each year. Some have papers and some do not, and the same goes for their children. Passing the Dream Act would be a motivating factor for these kids to not only stay in school but seek higher education, and ultimately be better prepared to contribute to Charlotte and its economy.
This article appears in Jun 15-21, 2010.
Give the college aid and college education to those legally in the United States.
As an aside, what is the reason the so called Dream Acts removes so many of the current reasons these illegal aliens would be barred from the US or be deported from the US?
All health reasons, dropped.
Quite a few criminal reasons dropped, including document fraud, lying about citizenship and more.
Jeesh, even voting in an election is removed.
Its like a big give away and what does the US get in return? Nothing.
What is the US getting in return? Are you serious? We have already invested in these kids’ education. And then we decide to fall short on that investment by barring them from college.
We are actually losing money by NOT passing the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act will have an economic stimulus by bringing bright, new minds to our stagnant economy. I think you’re just afraid of the potential of these students.
DREAM students have a lot to give to the US. If they are given a pathway to residency through education then that means that the US would have a stronger, diverse, educated population. It’s completely unrealistic to think that the 1.5 million undocumented students that would benefit from the DREAM Act would simply go back to the country they don’t know. Let’s look within our own values and give them a chance to WORK for their goals.
ARGUMENT: The DREAM Act would cause undocumented students to take college seats away from “American” citizens.
REBUTTAL: Currently, this is the most popular argument against The DREAM Act, so its rebuttal is split up into four sections.
First, except for top tier universities there is no such thing as “limited seating.” Community colleges and universities accept as many qualified applicants as they can in order to increase tuition revenues and, if public, state allocation of funds.
Second, The DREAM Act has a military provision that would allow students to apply for permanent residency if they completed two years of military service meaning not all undocumented students will be attending college.
Third, many DREAMers have already graduated from college or university. This means that there are thousands of highly qualified, college educated individuals in a wide variety of fields that cannot put their degrees to use because of their legal status.
Fourth, these students have grown up in American culture, taken the same standardized tests, met the same criteria and taken the same rigorous courses as “American Citizens.” If they qualify for college or university it is because they have earned it. They are just as American and patriotic as citizens with papers and have a right to a higher education.
ARGUMENT: Why should they get in-state tuition when U.S. citizens have to pay out-of-state when they only move to other states LEGALLY?
REBUTTAL: The DREAM Act is not about tuition or giving DREAMers more benefits than citizens. After the DREAM Act, States will still be able to charge out-of-state tuition for undocumented students. Once DREAMers meet the criteria of the DREAM Act, their residency would depend on state law. If they are legalized, they would also pay out-of-state tuition when they move to another state, just like any other citizen. In addition, citizen students’ moving to another state is a choice which was not given to DREAMers. In short, in today’s legal environment, DREAMers may meet all the legal, tax, and social requirements of in-state residency but because of their status (and only their status) they are denied that classification.
ARGUMENT: Why reward lawbreakers?
REBUTTAL: DREAMers are not lawbreakers as they did not chose to come to this country. Furthermore, punishing talented young adults, many college educated, would deprive the United States of an incredibly skilled and sorely needed source of future engineers, lawyers, doctors and other professionals.
Great points
Students should not be judged based on their legal status; they should be judged based on their academic merit and potential to excel in academia. They have proven to have that potential by the 65,000 students who graduate from high school each year. The drop-out rates might be high, but denying education will only make matters worse especially for the excessive amount of students who do graduate and have the capability of contributing to this country through the valuable education the U.S. is highly known for.
These “undocumented” students are by no means taking anyone’s space/seat in the university. If you have the potential and academic merits then you have the opportunity to attend a university. The opportunity is there for the taking, as shown by these excellent students who see that opportunity and want a chance at an education as well. Other students should learn from “undocumented” students; they should learn to work hard for what they want, maybe then they will stop complaining about “losing” seats in the university.