User:Itzyisrad/Undocumented students in the United States

Undocumented students are those students who are present in the country without authorization, with or without their parents or caregivers. They face unique legal uncertainties and limitations within the U.S. educational system.

Most children of unauthorized immigrants—73% in 2008—are U.S. citizens by birth. This number has increased rapidly in recent years, from 2.7 million in 2003 to 4 million in 2008. Contrastingly, the number of unauthorized immigrant children has stayed constant at 1.5 million since 2008 and may have declined slightly since 2005.

Demographics
It is difficult to determine national statistics for the demographic make up of undocumented students. However, we can infer that statistics for undocumented students would be very closely related to those for the unauthorized immigrant population as a whole.

While a majority of undocumented students come from Mexico and other Latin American countries, nearly 25 percent do not. After Latin America, the second-largest sending region is Asia. There are slightly more than 1.4 million undocumented Asians, 12 percent of the total undocumented population.

In some states, particularly California, undocumented Asians make up a disproportionate number of undocumented students in colleges and universities. In the University of California system, since the implementation of Assembly Bill (AB) 540 — a bill that allows students who have attended and graduated from California high schools to pay tuition at in-state rates — Asians have made up 40 to 44 percent of all undocumented students paying in-state tuition. In the 2005-06 academic year, Asian students represented 55 to 60 percent of students paying in-state tuition under AB 540.



K-12 legislation regarding undocumented students
In the United States, children are given the right to an elementary and secondary education (K-12) regardless of their immigration status.

Plyer v. Doe
Prior to 1975, all students in Texas were able to attend public elementary and secondary school. The state government provided funding to schools based on the number of students enrolled. In May of 1975, the state legislature amended the Texas Education Code to provide that only U.S. citizens or lawfully admitted noncitizens would be counted for financial aid purposes. Schools were given the option to allow or reject undocumented students and to charge tuition if they chose to accept them. School officials in Tyler, Texas, under the direction of Superintendent James Plyer, began charging $1,000 annual tuition to all undocumented students—about 60 from a student body of 1,600. In September 1977, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) filed a class action on behalf of sixteen Mexican American undocumented students of the Tyler district.

The trial court found that the Texas law violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, because it amounted to a total deprivation of education without a rational basis. The court rejected the state’s arguments regarding the cost of educating undocumented children, finding that the federal government largely subsidized the additional costs that the education of these children entailed and that “it is not sufficient justification that a law saves money.”

In order to comply with Plyer, education policy analysts have suggested that schools may not:
 * deny admission to a student on the basis of undocumented status;
 * treat a student fundamentally differently from others when determining residency;
 * engage in practices that frighten undocumented students and their families away from school access;
 * require students or parents to disclose or document immigration status;
 * make inquiries of students or parents that may expose their undocumented status;
 * require Social Security numbers from any student.

Plyer does not extend to postsecondary education, but at least guarantees undocumented students the opportunity to receive a high school degree.

Higher education
The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that 1.5 million undocumented students currently reside in the United States. Of these students, approximately 765,000 arrived in the United States before turning sixteen. It is also estimated that there were 360,000 undocumented high school graduates between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four in the United States in 2006. However, it is estimated that each year only 5 to 10 percent of undocumented high-school graduates—about 65,000 nationwide—are eligible to attend college. In 2005, only about 50,000 undocumented students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities. Of these college students, 18,000 were enrolled in California community colleges in the 2005-2006 school year as a result of financial accessibility.

Admission and enrollment
There is no federal or state law that prohibits the admission of undocumented immigrants to U.S. colleges and universities, public or private, nor does federal or state law require students to prove citizenship in order to enter U.S. institutions of higher education. However, every institution has its own policies on admitting undocumented students. For example, following a 2003 recommendation by the state attorney general, many 4-year state colleges in Virginia require applicants to submit proof of citizenship or legal residency, and refuse admission to students without documentation. This policy is not, however, a state law.

Tuition and financial aid
The cost of attending college is the primary obstacle facing undocumented students. While there is no federal or state law that prohibits the admission of undocumented immigrants to U.S. colleges and universities, financial limitations are enough to prevent students from applying and/or enrolling. 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 educational 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.” Several states have passed state laws providing in-state tuition benefits to undocumented students. They have circumvented the federal law simply by not asking students whether they are in the U.S. legally and by basing eligibility for in-state tuition on attendance at or graduation from an in-state high school and not on state residence. Other state universities will take undocumented students as international students, charging out-of-state tuition.



Because undocumented students are not eligible for Federal financial aid, they rely primarily on private scholarships as a source of funding for their postsecondary education. There are a few private scholarships that do not require the student to be a U.S. citizen or resident or have a social security number in order to apply. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) maintains the most comprehensive listing of such scholarships.

Private colleges and universities set their own financial aid policies. Some offer financial aid in the form of grants and scholarships to undocumented students.

DREAM Act
The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act is a federal bill that would permit states to determine state residency for higher education or military purposes. This bill was first introduced in the Senate on August 1, 2001 and was most recently re-introduced in Congress on March 26, 2009. A Senate filibuster blocked it on December 18, 2010. It would provide a mechanism for undocumented students of good moral character to become legal permanent residents. The DREAM Act initially allowed beneficiaries to qualify for federal student aid, but was changed in the 2010 version of the bill. In order to be eligible, individuals must have come to the U.S. as children (under the age of 16), graduated from a U.S. high school and be a long-term resident (at least 5 years). An age cap of 35 was also set. The latest version of the DREAM Act does not grant legal immigrant status to anyone for at least two years. Previous versions of the Act would have immediately granted legal immigrant status to eligible individuals. Many other limitations were also included in this latest version, among them the removal of access to healthcare benefits and limits to chain migration.

Undocumented immigrants, particularly students, are a difficult subgroup of the population to research; there is not much current statistical data available. As a result of their precarious legal and social situation, undocumented immigrants are hesitant to identify themselves as being unauthorized and the process of estimating statistics and drawing conclusions can be lengthy and cumbersome. While exact numbers are not known, there has been an increased emphasis on the challenges facing undocumented students nationwide and these will remain a topic of interest in American legislation in the coming years.