For 2008 Maui High School graduate Liz Cortes, an undocumented immigrant who has lived in the U.S. since she was 6 months old, a proposal in the spirit of the Dream Act would mean a chance at being able to afford college.
The University of Hawaii Board of Regents is considering a policy change that would give undocumented immigrants such as Cortes the chance to qualify for resident tuition rates at a UH community college or four-year campus.
The board is scheduled to take up the proposal Thursday morning at its monthly meeting in Hilo.
Cortes was poised to go to college and had just been awarded financial aid to attend UH Maui College when she learned, just before graduating from high school, that she didn’t have papers to be here legally, which disqualified her for resident tuition.
Full-time nonresident tuition at Maui College is $8,736 per semester, nearly three times the resident tuition of $2,940.
"After high school I never attended college due to the financial problems," Cortes told the UH Board of Regents at its December meeting.
"By doing this you are opening up many doors for students who will give back to this community," testified Sara Mares, a recent Lahainaluna High School graduate who came to the U.S. with her parents when she was 2 years old.
Advocates of the policy estimate that as many as 300 full-time students would qualify for resident tuition.
The UH policy proposal comes as the Obama administration is prodding Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill that could provide a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who qualify.
Obama last year enacted parts of the so-called Dream Act via executive order, offering deferments on deportation and the ability to work legally to people who entered the country illegally as children.
The UH proposal would extend resident tuition rates to illegal immigrants who attended a U.S. high school for at least three years, graduated from a U.S. high school and have lived in Hawaii for at least a year. The students would also have to file an affidavit that they have applied to legalize their immigration status.
Republican state Sen. Sam Slom opposes the proposal, although he said he might support it for individuals on a case-by-case basis.
"I don’t think it’s fair to lump these folks with the regular resident population because they’re not legal," Slom said last week. "If you’re talking about resident tuition for resident citizens, then that’s what it should be."
Slom said cost is also a factor.
Advocates estimate if 300 students take advantage of the policy, the difference between their resident and nonresident tuition would be about $900,000. But it’s not clear how many of those students would attend UH without the policy.
The students will not be eligible for federal financial aid, but they may qualify for state financial aid.
Advocates for the policy change say no Hawaii residents will be turned away because of the policy change and that Hawaii will join 13 other states — California, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Washington and Rhode Island — that offer resident tuition to undocumented students.
The regents appeared ready to approve the policy change in December, but the vote was put off until this month to allow the UH Office of General Counsel to look at it.
Kevin Block, coordinator of Maui County’s Immigrant Services Division, told the regents at the December meeting that the children of illegal immigrants should not be punished for the conduct of their parents.
"It is a long-settled legal, constitutional and societal principle that the sins of the father are not visited upon the son," Block said. He said many children of illegal immigrants "are bright, polite, civic-minded, dedicated and determined, and I am inspired by their bravery and positivity in the face of, at times, unspeakable adversity and hardship. The university systemwide will benefit from the contribution these young people will make to the school and their peers."
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
