Does immigration law unfairly affect students?
Does immigration law unfairly affect state students?
By Susan Simpson
Comments 
52
Published: February 20, 2008
STILLWATER — Oklahoma's immigration law unfairly punishes some of the state's greatest assets: young people with the ability and desire to gain a college education, a University of Houston law professor said Tuesday.
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What have colleges done?
The state Regents for Higher Education changed some policies in October to bring them into compliance with the new law.
Undocumented students who have lived in Oklahoma for at least two years and have graduated from high school remain eligible for in-state tuition if they have applied with the federal government to legalize their status or pledge to do so as soon as they are eligible.
But illegal immigrants no longer qualify for state scholarships such as Oklahoma's Promise and the Oklahoma Tuition Assistance Grant, unless they had already applied and were covered under a grandfather clause.
In the 2006-07 school year, 244 undocumented students attended Oklahoma colleges, mostly at Oklahoma City Community College and Tulsa Community College. While they cost the state $112,000 in tuition waivers and state aid, they contributed $238,785 in tuition and fees.
What students said
Olivas said the stricter standards to college access are "mean-spirited,” because giving illegal immigrants in-state tuition does not take away that right for other Oklahomans.
But one international student at the lecture complained he has to pay out-of-state tuition although he's been in the United States legally for several years.
Brenda Morales, OSU's Hispanic student coordinator, said students are unclear about the new rules. Morales said many don't know they can still go to college by paying out-of-state tuition, but that is probably too expensive for most families.
Related Topics:
Education, Higher Education, Colleges and Universities, Community Colleges, Immigration
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Come on Ms. Simpson. Anyone that still cannot understand the law is either trying to cause controversy or is just plain retarded. There is plenty or available information about the law and who it affects. Illegal Aliens have no business being enrolled at OSU and why would any legal student be frantic about the law?
it means you can't give in-state tuition to a illegal alien unless you give it to anyone else which includes legal immigrants or someone from other states.
across the Tohono O'odham reservation every day, making it one of the
busiest illegal entry points in the country. So far this year, 27,130
people have been arrested in this remote desert. Federal agents have
seized a staggering 179,300 pounds of narcotics since October.
The
sheer volume of criminal activity and law-enforcement response has
made some Indians feel as if they are living in a combat zone.
High-
speed chases are so frequent that residents rely on police scanners to
know when it's safe to go outside. Burglaries are so common that
people leave homes unlocked to save doors and windows. Overhead, Black
Hawk helicopters hunt drug runners while camouflaged agents prowl the
bush.
"Our people fear for their lives," said Vivian Juan-Saunders,
tribal chairwoman.
The reservation, roughly the size of Connecticut,
shares a 75-mile border with Mexico. The most formidable obstacles are
three or four strands of rusty barbed wire.
"The Tohono O'odham
Nation sits in the busiest corridor of illegal immigration in the
nation," said Andy Adame, Border Patrol spokesman. "They are getting
run over. The option is to let it go crazy or bring in the manpower to
get it under control."
The Department of Homeland Security this
month announced a $10 million plan to help secure Arizona's porous
borders, now the main gateway to the United States for illegal
immigrants and smugglers.
The money will pay for hundreds of new
agents, aerial surveillance drones and additional detention space. The
reservation will get an additional 60 Border Patrol officers.
Many
of the 11,000 residents here live in trailers or ramshackle adobe
houses surrounded by the twisted saguaros and fragrant mesquite of the
Sonoran Desert.
As more illegal immigrants cross, they are
increasingly fearful of letting their children play outside. Tribal
elders no longer gather ceremonial plants in the desert. Fences are
going up and people are packing weapons.
Some Indians are forming
armed citizen patrols, occasionally shooting over the heads of
immigrants and smugglers to scare them off their land.
The Devil has taken over your souls---- PRAY---PRAY--- OH you sinners of evil. Praise be to the Lord. Cast the Devil out of your souls you wicked ones. PRAY---PRAY----PRAY----
Quote:
You know what is so wrong with all this is that 90% of the people posting here are one and the same person. They are only trying to stir up all you other 10%"
How can illegal alien students get in-state tuition? Quote" There is a conflict between Federal and State law regarding the eligibility of undocumented students for in-state tuition rates. Federal law passed in 1996 prohibits illegal aliens from receiving in-state tuition rates at public institutions of higher education. Specifically, Section 505 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (Title 8, Chapter 14, Sec. 1623(a)) states: "an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a State (or a political subdivision) for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit (in no less an amount, duration, and scope) without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident."