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RESIDENCY REQUIRED: Oregon's barrier to higher education
Oregon high school graduates who are children of illegal immigrants are forced to pay out-of-state tuition at the state's public universities
by Allie Grasgreen | Managing Editor
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When Rene Juarez (pseudonym) graduated from his Oregon high school he was expecting to go to college, although his family had little money.
Before applying to the University, Juarez applied for scholarships: The 18-year-old had a 3.6 grade point average and he thought he had no reason to believe that anything was wrong. At first, he was right. He received notice that he had been awarded $70,000.
Then he was forced to give it all up.
The University had examined his records and found was that Juarez's parents were not citizens. Despite having applied for permanent residency at age 12, Juarez had no legal status as a state resident. He was not sure what had transpired.
"I knew that I really wanted to go but it was really discouraging," he said. "I had to put my life on hold because I couldn't afford to go to school."
Juarez's experience is not unique: Students at public universities all over the country are forced to pay out-of-state tuition in their home states because of their parents' immigrant status.
If a high school student's parents are not documented by the government and have no tax information, that student has no information to submit on college financial aid applications. As a result, these students who have lived in and attended high school in Oregon are left unable to pursue a college degree simply because they cannot afford it.
Oregon is the only state on the West Coast that has no legislation to deal with the oversight, and student activists are pushing lawmakers to become the 11th state to provide "tuition equity." Courtney Sproule, Communications Director for the Oregon Student Association, said tuition equity legislation would open doors to access to in-state tuition to all qualifying Oregon high school graduates. "This legislation is crucial to our state's future right now because we need to be addressing the needs of an increasingly diverse population," she said.
Viewing Comments 1 - 6 of 7
legally here
posted 2/21/07 @ 4:46 PM PST
Blah, blah, blah. You got all the illegal immigration cliches in just 5 pages. Illegal is illegal. The kids suffer for the parent's mistakes (or attempt to break the law. (Continued…)
Mark Lansdon
posted 2/21/07 @ 10:45 PM PST
Once again we have a story of a child whose parents failed to do their jobs. Their parents are responsible for providing for the appropriate environment in which the child is raised. (Continued…)
dorothy
posted 2/23/07 @ 1:03 PM PST
Let the parents' country of origin pay for the scholarships to send the kid to college.His parents were never citizens,came over illegally,let that REAL native-country pay for them,not the country they sneaked into. (Continued…)
who's really an Immigrant
posted 3/01/07 @ 12:37 AM PST
Who's really an ILLEGAL immigrant!? What was the difference between crossing the Mississippi during Manifest Destiny and crossing the Rio Grande today? Covered wagons!? IMMIGRATION IS IMMIGRATION! Being born a citizen is a privilege. (Continued…)
elisandro
posted 11/08/07 @ 9:56 PM PST
illegal or not illegal shuold be allowed to go to college regardless of their status, F%^& bush he promise illegal wuold be allowed to go to college, and also f%#$ the fat ass of PAT Buchanan he smell, i hate him really hate him, who needs a racist country, all we want is to go to college not to cut an apple in the field just so a white person can eat it. (Continued…)
Jim
posted 11/09/07 @ 11:59 AM PST
Do I get discounted tuition if I sneak into Mexico?
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