If one group of North Carolina students has its way, undocumented immigrant status won’t prevent students from continuing their education in the U.S.
The N.C. Coalition for College Access will hold its third annual state-wide summit Saturday at Queens University of Charlotte.
The organization, started by UNC-Chapel Hill students in 2007, aims to make college legally and financially accessible to undocumented students.
The DREAM Act of 2009
(S. 729/H.R. 1751) will enable undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for at least five consecutive years, beginning before they turned 16, to attend an institute of higher education or serve in the military during a six-year period of conditional residency. They must have graduated from an American high school or have a GED and cannot have a criminal record.
Conditional Residents can receive state-based tuition assistance as well as federal work study, but are not eligible for Pell Grants. They can apply for permanent U.S. residency beginning 180 days before the sixth year of their conditional residency.
About 60 participants are pre-registered for the summit and another 40 may attend this year — the largest turnout yet.
“The overall goal of the summit is to build an even bigger movement of students,” said UNC-CH senior Ron Bilbao, chairman of the state board of the N.C. Coalition for College Access.
Bilbao said the summit will focus on training the organization’s members to inform high schools and their undocumented students about their college options.
“The focus is basically on reaching out to the undocumented community and making them aware of the opportunities they have for college,” said summit organizer Teresa Gil, a sophomore at Queens University.
The summit will also train members to lobby legislators, organize campus grassroots movements and engage the community in aiding undocumented students, Gil said.
Undocumented students in North Carolina are allowed to attend public institutes of higher education regardless of their citizenship status, but they are not eligible for in-state tuition, Bilbao said.
Not receiving in-state tuition can make higher education too expensive for many people.
Bilbao said lobbying is essential to keeping higher education available to undocumented students because it is a constant struggle to keep intact the policy granting them admission.
“Every single year there is a bill in the legislature that would close the door,” Bilbao said.
Earlier this year, the organization was involved in efforts to remove a ban on the enrollment of undocumented students in the N.C. Community College System.
The organization may travel to Washington, D.C., later this year to lobby in favor of the federal legislation known as the DREAM Act, which would ensure public schools remain open to undocumented immigrant students and that they become eligible for some forms of public tuition assistance.
“A main goal of the coalition is to get the DREAM Act passed,” said Wooten Gough, a member of the organization’s UNC-CH chapter.
Several speakers from immigrant advocacy organizations will appear at the summit, including guests from the United We DREAM Coalition, Reform Immigration for America, and The Tomorrow Fund, which is based in the Triangle.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
