Critical Thinking Paper Rough Draft

Brianna Fort
Red Group
3/31/14


People travel to America in search of justice for all, yet many inequalities still
exist. One of these inequalities is in education. Many people immigrate to the United
States, some through the legal system, and some illegally. The children of these illegal
immigrants, many born in this country to chase the American Dream, are stopped short
because they cannot afford to pay for college. Although most states have state colleges
and universities with less expensive tuition rates for their state residents, undocumented
students are not given the opportunity to pay in-state tuition for colleges. This creates a
barrier for the students who cannot afford to pay out-of-state tuition to attend college.
Congress should pass a law permitting undocumented students who have graduated from
high school to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and universities because it will create
a fair opportunity to all students, increase revenue for colleges, create well-educated
workers, and have a beneficial effect on the economy.
This problem has been in existence for a while now, just as illegal immigration
has been a problem for a while. When people immigrate to the United States illegally
they may be trying to reach for the American dream, but instead they are preventing their
future children from reaching that dream because they are undocumented citizens. Their
children, as students, may work hard to go to college. Yet the dream of a college
education is swept out from under their feet when they realize that they cant pay in-state
tuition for college because documentation is required. The one thing that could help these
students achieve their goals in life, a college education, cant be attained because they
cant afford out-of-state tuition. As a result these children cant chase their ambitions, and
instead add to the amount of unskilled workers in the work force because they cannot
receive a full proper education.
This isnt the only problem occurring due to the fact that undocumented students
cant pay in-state tuition for colleges. Since college tuition is extremely expensive, not
many of the students can afford to pay for out of state tuition. Only about 5-10% of
undocumented young people who graduate from high school go on to college, ("Basic
Facts about In-State Tuition."). Because these students cannot receive a full education,
they end up with low-wage jobs that do not require a college education. This means that
these citizens have lower salaries than they would if they had a professional job, and less
money to survive. In Texas alone, a worker who completes some college can increase
their earning potential by 96%. And those with a four-year degree or higher can increase
their earning potential by as much as 139%, (Chvez, Cristina, and Alejandro
Angarita.). The worst problem that comes out of this situation is when some
undocumented students attempt to apply for a green card to legalize their status in order
to attend college. When undocumented students try to legalize their status in order to
attend college, The most likely outcome is deportation of his entire family, (Basic
Facts about In-State Tuition.").
There is still hope to fix this problem. In fact, sixteen states already have laws
permitting certain undocumented students who have attended and graduated from their
primary and secondary schools to pay the same tuition as their classmates at public
institutions of higher education, ("Basic Facts about In-State Tuition."). The Maryland
Dream Act was a step in the right direction. This law enables certain undocumented
high school graduates to obtain a post-secondary education at an affordable price,
("Maryland Dream Act."). Other states such as Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey,
and New York have laws similar to the Maryland Dream Act that allow undocumented
citizens to attend college. But having these Dream Acts passed on a state level wont
completely solve this problem. In order for this problem to be solved once and for all,
Congress needs to pass a law permitting undocumented students to be allowed to pay in-
state tuition because, not only will it have a positive impact on the undocumented
students, but these students deserve an opportunity for an equal education.
Undocumented students deserve to pay an in-state tuition rate so that they can
have a fair opportunity to attend college. America is known as a place of equality, yet
undocumented students are unequal when it comes to college. Students should be allowed
to receive an equal education to that of their peers, and not be held back by their
immigrant status. Denial of an education is the analogue of denial of the right to vote,
placing these children at a permanent disadvantage similar to disenfranchisement,
(Plyler v. Doe.). It is wrong to not give these children the right to their own deserved
education. To deny the ability to attain a higher education to 12 million undocumented
immigrants is a tragedy on a human rights level, (Reshef, Shai.). Not only is it inhumane
to deny these children their dreams of a college education, but it also goes against the
justice for all policy in the Constitution.
Not only should Congress pass this law enabling undocumented citizens to pay in-
state tuition because of moral reasons, but there are also multiple financial benefits
involved. The first one is school revenue. If undocumented citizens are permitted to
attend colleges, it would increase the revenue of the schools through tuition payments. In
Massachusetts it was estimated that, if 30-40% of the undocumented student population
were to attend college, campuses would receive between $1.8 and $2.1 million in new
revenues in the first year. By the fourth year, new revenues would total between $6.4
and $7.4 million, (Chvez, Cristina, and Alejandro Angarita.). In Colorado, the bill
permitting undocumented students to pay in-state tuition will, increase revenue from
tuition by about $2.0 million in FY 2013-14 and about $3.0 million in FY 2014-15,
(Colorado.).
The second financial reason to have Congress pass this law is because, if
undocumented students are allowed to attend college, the amount of college-educated
professionals will increase. College-educated professionals earn higher salaries than high
school graduates, which would increase the amount of money the worker would pay in
taxes. In Maryland, the government passed the Maryland Dream Act in 2012 and already
people can witness the increase in taxes and how the economy has benefited. State and
local governments could experience an increase of tax revenue (income and sales taxes)
of $6.1 million, while spending on incarceration could decrease by 7.3 million, ("Basic
Facts about In-State Tuition."). In Hawaii, the associate vice president for student affairs
at the University of Hawaii estimates that, the amount in taxes these graduates would
contribute to the state over the course of their lives would equal approximately
$360,000,000, (Chvez, Cristina, and Alejandro Angarita.). If passing Dream Acts in
these states already has such an impact in the economy, then passing a Dream Act on a
federal basis would be even more of an impact.
Congress needs to pass this law because there are lots of harmful repercussions
that occur if undocumented students cannot attend college. When these young adults find
out that the dreams they have been working throughout high school to achieve cannot
come true, their parents and counselors worry that their childrens discouragement might
lead to problems. One of the problems that this might lead to is smoking. An estimated
47.5% of male and 38.3% of female GED earners smoked compared with 11.9% of males
and 9.6% of females with bachelors degrees, (Chvez, Cristina, and Alejandro
Angarita.). Not only do more undocumented citizens smoke if they do not attend college,
even fewer of them own their own home. One statistic says that, more than 80% of
individuals with a graduate or professional degree own their own home compared with
only 56% of individuals with less than a 9
th
grade education and only 68% of individuals
with a high school diploma or a GED, (Chvez, Cristina, and Alejandro Angarita.).
Congress should pass a law permitting undocumented students who have
graduated from high school to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and universities for
many reasons. One reason is because it is right and just to give everyone an equal
education, so holding back certain people because of their immigrant status is unfair.
Also, if undocumented students are permitted to attend colleges, it would increase the
revenue in the schools through tuition payments. Lastly, the amount of highly educated,
skilled, professional workers would increase dramatically in America if most of the
undocumented citizens went to college. Not only would the number of skilled workers
increase, but the amount of money these workers pay for taxes will increase too. America
is in need of a lot changes these days- new renovations, new systems, even new school
curriculums. But the most important thing for our society today is to make sure that
Congress passes a law that will give undocumented students a chance to purse their
dreams.




Works Cited
"Basic Facts about In-State Tuition." National Immigration Law Center. N.p., n.d. Web.
24 Feb. 2014. <http://www.nilc.org/basicfactsinstate.html>.
Chvez, Cristina, and Alejandro Angarita. "Toolkit | Access to Postsecondary
Education." Ed. Tanya Broder, Adey Fisseha, and Richard Irwin. National
Immigration Law Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.nilc.org/eduaccesstoolkit.html>.
Colorado. State Revised Fiscal Impact. Colorado General Assembly. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2013a/csl.nsf/fsbillcont3/E083F0BE76DFD
8F087257A8E0073BFC9?Open&file=SB033_r1.pdf>.
"Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Process." U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services. National Customer Service Center, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
<http://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/consideration-deferred-action-childhood-
arrivals-process>.
"In-state Tuition and Unauthorized Immigrant Students." National Conf. of State
Legislators. National Conference of State Legislatures, 19 Feb. 2014. Web. 27
Mar. 2014. <http://www.ncsl.org/research/immigration/in-state-tuition-and-
unauthorized-immigrants.aspx#1>.
"Maryland Dream Act." Montgomery College. Montgomery College, n.d. Web. 24 Feb.
2014. <http://cms.montgomerycollege.edu/EDU/Department.aspx?id=48024>.
Plyler v. Doe. 475 US. Supreme Court of the US. 1982. Print.
Reshef, Shai. "A Higher Ed Opportunity for All Undocumented Immigrants." Huffington
Post 7 Jan. 2013: n. pag. Huffington Post. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shai-reshef/a-higher-ed-
opportunity_b_2418828.html>.

Annotated Bibliography
"Basic Facts about In-State Tuition." National Immigration Law Center. N.p., n.d. Web.
24 Feb. 2014. <http://www.nilc.org/basicfactsinstate.html>.
This source was extremely helpful in providing me with the basic facts I needed
to build a foundation for my research paper. The website was extremely
organized, and provided lots of arguments that I used to feed into my four major
arguments.
Chvez, Cristina, and Alejandro Angarita. "Toolkit | Access to Postsecondary
Education." Ed. Tanya Broder Broder, Adey Fisseha, and Richard Irwin. National
Immigration Law Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.nilc.org/eduaccesstoolkit.html>.
This source was helpful because it contained lots of facts and statistics that I was
able to incorporate into my paper. Due to this source my paper has a lot more
logos arguments added to the pathos and ethos arguments.
Colorado. State Revised Fiscal Impact. Colorado General Assembly. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2013a/csl.nsf/fsbillcont3/E083F0BE76DFD
8F087257A8E0073BFC9?Open&file=SB033_r1.pdf>.
This primary government document states that the revenue from tuition will
increase from $2.0 million in FY 2013-14 and about $3.0 million in FY 2014-15.
I used this document to argue that the states will be benefiting from this law
because the colleges and universities revenue will increase from tuition.
"Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Process." U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services. National Customer Service Center, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.
<http://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/consideration-deferred-action-childhood-
arrivals-process>.
This source helped provide background knowledge on my topic, and also supplied
me with so key information, like what the requirements are to go to college if
youre an illegal immigrant.
"In-state Tuition and Unauthorized Immigrant Students." National Conf. of State
Legislators. National Conference of State Legislatures, 19 Feb. 2014. Web. 27
Mar. 2014. <http://www.ncsl.org/research/immigration/in-state-tuition-and-
unauthorized-immigrants.aspx#1>.
This source also provided background information on things that related to my
topic, such as the Dream Act. This website also provided insight on topics I had to
report on.
"Maryland Dream Act." Montgomery College. Montgomery College, n.d. Web. 24 Feb.
2014. <http://cms.montgomerycollege.edu/EDU/Department.aspx?id=48024>.
This source was extremely simplistic and easy to understand. It was laid out
nicely and had some good pieces of information that I used in my paper.
Plyler v. Doe. 475 US. Supreme Court of the US. 1982. Print.
This primary court transcription was a marking stone in the immigrant force.
Although it happened in 1982, it helped provide a susceptive as to how people
feel and how they felt before.
Reshef, Shai. "A Higher Ed Opportunity for All Undocumented Immigrants." Huffington
Post 7 Jan. 2013: n. pag. Huffington Post. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shai-reshef/a-higher-ed-
opportunity_b_2418828.html>.
This newspaper article helped me form an argument on why students should be
provided equal education, no matter what background they come from.