Illegal Immigrants Struggle With Higher Tuition

SPRINGDALE— Cyndi Beltran expects to take longer to get her bachelor’s degree than many of the other students in her graduating class at Bentonville High School because it will cost her almost three times more.

Beltran is an illegal immigrant who doesn’t qualify for in-state or in-district tuition at the local university or community college.

“There is no reason we should pay out-of-state when we’ve been here so long,” she said.

Higher fees for higher education charged to illegal immigrants hurts the region economically because less educated immigrants means a less educated work force, said Luis Restrepo, associate vice provost for diversity affairs at the University of Arkansas.

“Latino education is not a Latino issue,” he said. “It’s an issue for everyone.”

Companies look to see how educated the work force is when they look at moving to or expanding in Northwest Arkansas, said Rob Smith, communications and policies specialist at the Northwest Arkansas Council. The council is a nonprofit group that works to improve education, infrastructure, quality of life and economic opportunities, he said.

Sen. Joyce Elliot, D-Little Rock, sponsored a bill in the recently ended legislative session to grant in-state tuition to illegal immigrants in Arkansas. The bill died in committee.

Sen. Jon Woods, R-Springdale, said he voted against the bill because he wants the issue to be solved at the federal level where the government can also come up with an immigration reform plan. The bill would have favored illegal immigrants over U.S. citizens, Woods said, because a U.S. citizen from a state other than Arkansas would have to pay out-of-state tuition.

“Your child was not born in the United States,” he said. “It’s wrong and everyone knows it’s wrong.”

Woods said Arkansans should invest in the children here legally.

“If we don’t they become a burden to society,” he said.

Sen. Jim Hendren, R-Gravette, also voted against the bill. He said it makes no sense for tuition to be cheaper for an illegal immigrant who can earn a degree and then leave the U.S. It only makes sense if the student is a legal resident and is staying in the U.S. to work and contribute to the economy, he said.

A state law granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrants could be subject to a federal court case. A federal law forbids granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrants unless the same benefit is granted to any U.S. citizen, whatever state the citizen comes from. This law has been successfully challenged in federal court in other states, however.

Beltran was born in Culiacan, Mexico, she said. She moved to Bentonville on a tourist visa when she was 12 with her mother and younger siblings. Her mother wanted them to escape the violence in Mexico, she said.

At A Glance (w/logo)

Demographics

Hispanic and Latino population, 2011

• U.S.: 16.7 percent

• Arkansas: 6.6 percent

• Benton County: 15.7 percent

• Washington County: 15.8 percent

Hispanic undergraduate population at University of Arkansas

• Fall 2009: 3.87 percent

• Fall 2010: 4.52 percent

• Fall 2011: 5.02 percent

• Fall 2012: 5.69 percent

Hispanic population at NorthWest Arkansas Community College

• Fall 2009: 10.84 percent

• Fall 2010: 10.52 percent

• Fall 2011: 11.76 percent

• Fall 2012: 14.02 percent

Source: Staff Report

By The Numbers (w/logo)

Tuition Rates

Tuition per credit at University of Arkansas, Spring 2013

• Resident Undergraduate: $204.70

• Non-Resident Undergraduate: $567.41

Tuition per credit at NorthWest Arkansas Community College, Spring 2013

• In-District: $75

• Out-of-District: $122.50

• Out-of-State: $17

Source: Staff Report

She was in the U.S. legally under her tourist visa until she was 15, Beltran said. She was able to stay legally once she turned 18 under a new, federal program called deferred action. It apples to illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. before age 16, are in school and haven’t left the U.S. for at least five years, according to the Homeland Security website.

Deferred action allows Beltran to have a work permit, a Social Security number and keeps her from being deported, she said. She works and pays taxes. Deferred action isn’t the same as being granted permanent residency, which allows someone to get in-state-tuition, she said.

“They might be able to go to college, but they’ll pay triple the amount,” Restrepo said.

Out-of-state tuition at the University of Arkansas for example is $362.71 more per credit than in-state tuition, according to the university’s website.

Tuition for illegal immigrants comes down to a choice made by the states, said Laura Vazquez, immigration legislative analyst for the National Council of La Raza. La Raza is a Hispanic civil rights organization.

“This is something that dramatically changes the opportunities in front of them,” Vazquez said.

California, Texas, New York, Utah, Washington, Oklahoma, Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico, Nebraska, Maryland and Connecticut offer in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures website.

Many illegal immigrants go to community colleges such as NorthWest Arkansas Community College where the tuition is more affordable, Restrepo said.

Eight percent of the 2012 Hispanic high school graduates from Rogers and Springdale school districts went to the University of Arkansas while 21 percent went to NorthWest Arkansas Community College, Restrepo said.

Beltran is a communications student at the community college because she said it’s a broad field that will give her more job opportunities. This will be important since she will need to get a higher paying job after graduation to be able to pay for tuition at a university, she said.

The higher prices of college tuition for illegal immigrants lengthens the time for them to graduate, Beltran said. She will only be able to afford one class at a time at a university, she said.

Beltran said she is hoping for federal legislation to be passed providing younger immigrants a pathway to citizenship. She’s hoping Senate Bill 952 and House Bill 1842, both called Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2011, will pass. The acts allow illegal immigrant students to apply for conditional legal residency. A student who is an illegal immigrant would be able to get in-state tuition after he has finished at least two years toward a bachelor’s degree, according to the bills.

Northwest Arkansas Community College has a program to increase the school’s Hispanic and Marshallese populations, Beltran said. The program is called Learning, Improvement, Fun and Empowerment.

The program has mentors who go to high schools in Bentonville, Rogers and Springdale to teach the students about college. High school students in the program come to NorthWest Arkansas Community College every June to tour the campus, she said.

“They end up seeing what college can be like, and they end up coming to college here,” said Steven Hinds, executive director of public relations and marketing for the college.

The University of Arkansas has a Hispanic outreach program called the Office of Latino Academic Advancement and Community Outreach, said Restrepo. The office focuses on Hispanic recruitment and retention by visiting schools, working with college fairs and giving campus tours to high school students, he said.

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