Open the Door to Higher Education: Pass the DREAM Act

by Cristina Jimenez

Published April 07, 2009 @ 06:54AM PT

Every year 1.2 million students drop out of high school. Most of them live in low-income communities of color. Seventy three percent of whites graduate from high school and enroll in college, compared to 56 percent of Blacks and 58 percent of Latinos.

According to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, college tuition and fees increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007 while median family income only rose147 percent. There is not doubt that rising educational disparities and tuition cost have made a college education harder to reach for most Americans.

For immigrant students without status, the barriers and difficulties to reach higher education are much severe. Their immigration status, bars them from applying to scholarships and financial aid. They cannot work legally to pay for their education and live in continuous fear of deportation. Every year, approximately  65,000 undocumented high school students graduate from U.S high schools with almost no hope of attending college. Among these students are valedictorians, award winners, star athletes, talented artists, and aspiring teachers, lawyers, and doctors.

For the most part, these students come to the United States with their parents as children. Many have no recollection of their country of birth. They have been educated in our schools, adopted American values, speak English, and know this country as their home. They are, in all aspects, Americans. Their immigration status derives from their parents. If the parents are undocumented and cannot attain immigration status, immigrant children are destined to stay undocumented without legal means to a path to citizenship and the chance to pursue higher education.

Knowing their unique barriers to a college education, undocumented students have fewer incentives to graduate from high school. Although it is difficult to know how many immigrant students drop out of high school because of their immigration status. Anecdotal evidence, from my experience working with immigrant youth, shows that their status is a major factor in their decision to drop out. In New York City, for example, only 23 percent of English Language Learning (ELL) students graduate from high school. According to the New York Immigration Coalition, by the 11th grade, nearly half of ELL students disappear from school rosters.

Undocumented students know that even if they graduate from college, their future is uncertain. Only 5 to 10 percent of undocumented high school graduates get to go to college. In 2006, the Migration Policy Institute estimated that about 50,000 undocumented students were enrolled in colleges and universities across the country.

Those who attained a bachelors or masters degree, however, are unable to work and put their education into practice. They are college graduates with no future.

Unable to attend college, undocumented students have no other option than to become part of the underground economy and, like their parents, be vulnerable to exploitation. As I have written before, this results into the creation of an under class of uneducated young people. A clear example of this reality: immigrant youth being exploited at a meatpacking plant in Iowa.

A legislation known as the DREAM Act addresses the struggle and barriers to higher education faced by undocumented students. The DREAM Act, which was recently introduced in Congress, is a bipartisan legislation that would provide a six year temporary status to undocumented students who entered the country before age 16, lived here continuously for at least five years, graduate from high school and have no criminal record. Over the six year period, students would have to attend college or join the military for at least two years to be eligible for permanent status. If enacted, this legislation would unleash the potential of immigrant youth by allowing them to further their education and contribute to our society.

To find out more about the DREAM Act and what you can do, please visit DreamActivist and the DREAM Act section of Ideas for Change in America.

Creating an uneducated generation threatens our nation's well being. As the new administration continues to talk about creating an educated workforce and investing in education, we cannot ignore the plight of undocumented students and their unique barriers to higher education. Our future depends on providing an opportunity for all students, regardless of immigration status, to attain a college education. An educated workforce would improve our standard of living and our ability to compete in the global economy.

Cristina Jimenez is an immigrant rights advocate and co-founding member of the New York State Youth Leadership Council (YLC)—a youth-led organization committed to promoting the advancement of immigrant youth and children of immigrants through leadership development, organizing, and advocacy. She is also an immigration policy consultant with the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy.