Equality in Education – Day of Action

[If you are in the Boston area and are free tomorrow afternoon, come support this action. --BG]

Join us as we gather 400 supporters to represent the number of Massachusetts high school graduates every year who are denied access to higher education.

Let's show the legislature that the everyone deserves the right to an education.

The event will run from 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM and be held at the Grand Staircase.

Get more information

To RSVP, please contact Carlos Saavedra at csaavedra AT miracoalition DOT org

(From the information link, above:)

The Issue

Each year around 400 hundred high achieving students, who have lived in Massachusetts for most of their lives, are unable to pursue higher education because of their immigration status. Currently, students without permanent legal status must pay out of state tuition to attend state and city universities and colleges. Out of state tuition is three to five times the cost of in state tuition. As most of these students cannot afford to pay out of state tuition, they are forced to forego college and work in low-paying, low-skilled jobs.

The In-State Tuition Bill S. 764/ H. 1230

The bill allows students to pay the same in-state tuition rates as their peers at public colleges and universities provided they have attended a Massachusetts high school for three years and have graduated or received the equivalent of a diploma. If the student is not a legal permanent resident, they must sign an affidavit stating that they have filed an application to become a legal permanent resident, or will file an application as soon as they are eligible to do so.

Current Status

New Mexico, Texas, Utah, California, New York, Illinois, Washington, Kansas and Oklahoma have already passed similar bills. Governor Romney vetoed the bill in Massachusetts in June 2004. This session the bill was reported favorably out of the House Ways and Means Committee and is currently awaiting a full vote on the House floor. Governor Romney is expected to once again veto the bill, therefore we need a 2/3rds majority in the House to move forward. We are currently counting votes and urging House leadership to bring the bill up for a full floor vote.

Also see this, which explains that nationally "approximately 65,000 undocumented students . . . graduate from high school every year without the opportunity to go to college."