A crowd of mostly immigrant high school and college students rallied at the University of Maryland campus Monday in support of legislation that would provide in-state tuition to illegal immigrants who graduate from a Maryland high school.
The lower-than-expected band of about 60 arrived from around the state to support a bill currently stalled in a committee with Monday night’s deadline in Annapolis looming. Similar legislation has failed since 2003, but the debate has continued.
“The vast majority of these kids were brought here by their parents,” said Del. Saqib Ali, a Montgomery County Democrat. “We shouldn’t penalize them for the actions of their parents.”
Ali added that a country willing to let illegal immigrants fight in its wars should also offer them “full and equal access to higher education,” especially when their children will most likely be born in the United States.
The law would qualify students regardless of their status, as long as their parents paid income taxes in the previous year and they had attended high school in the state for at least two years.
Currently, out-of-state tuition at University of Maryland, College Park is $23,076, nearly triple in-state tuition of $8,005. At two-year community colleges, in-county tuition is generally slightly more than half of out-of-county costs: At Montgomery College, residents pay $3,876 while nonresidents pay $7,512.
Analysts for the General Assembly estimate the proposed law would not cost taxpayers money until 2011, when a state funding formula would kick in to provide aid to community colleges based on in-state enrollment. In 2011, the estimated cost would be $418,500 and could jump to $1,243,400 by 2013.
Susan Payne, executive director of the Maryland Coalition for Immigration Reform, prides herself on having helped defeat similar legislation in past years and argues her position is a “dollars and cents, law and order stance.”
“College students are no longer children, they’re 18,” Payne said. “They must obtain an education like other people from different countries: Go back, follow the rules, apply for a student visa and get in line.”
