University Of Michigan May Soon Offer In-State Tuition To Undocumented Students
Source: Think progress
A day after the Detroit Free Press highlighted undocumented Michigan students’ struggles with tuition costs, the University of Michigan proposed "significant revisions" Monday to allow undocumented students to qualify for in-state tuition.
The university seeks to revamp its eligibility requirements to open in-state tuition for any students who have attended Michigan middle and high schools, even if they cannot prove legal residency. This reform could prove crucial for the roughly 29,000 undocumented youths who live in Michigan. Currently, undocumented students must pay as much as three times the in-state rate. They also do not qualify for financial aid or grants.
In a Sunday op-ed, Daniel Alejandro Morales, a formerly undocumented student who is now a junior at University of Michigan, blasted the school for choosing to “reinforce the status quo and effectively deny access to undocumented students.” Morales recounted the story of Javier Contreras, who was denied in-state tuition even though his family has lived and paid taxes in Michigan for 13 years. Because Javier’s status also disqualifies him from federal financial aid or student loans, he had to give up his dream of becoming the first in his family to attend college.
Michigan students forced the university to confront the issue in April, when a protest against the school’s tuition policy resulted in the arrest of seven students and one alumnus.
Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2013/07/15/2302141/university-of-michigan-in-state-tuition-undocumented-students/
Be prepared to see immediate backlash from the right wing state legislature. How on earth does a state that elected Obama in 2008 and 2012 and a state with a legacy of organized labor have a Republican governor (Rick Snyder) and a red legislature that turned the state into a right-to-work corporate wet dream? Is Michigan now DeVos-ville/Koch-topia/Chamber of Commerce City? Earlier this year the legislature tried to penalize schools and public colleges for honoring old faculty contracts once RTW went into effect. Michiganders, MOBILIZE, says this man who hasn't stepped on Michigan soil for over 15 years and is disappointed what it's become.
(The last time I lived in Ann Arbor in '97, John Engler was governor, the two US Senators were Democrat Carl Levin and Republican Spencer Abraham, my member of the US House was John Dingell Jr., and the Michigan State House had a Democratic majority.)
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