Monday, May 30, 2011

Closing the Door of Education in Arizona


Education in Arizona is having its SB1070 moment and this time there is no Judge or ruling that can come to the rescue.
Since the passing of laws like Prop.300 and several more intended to get rid of undocumented Linkstudents in Arizona, a policy called attrition through enforcement, the number of immigrant students participating in higher education has been dwindling dramatically from around 1500 students on public universities in 2007, to only 106 in 2010 according with an article by Cronkite News.
Many of these students and freshmen sought access to education through Community Colleges, which thanks to a tiered tuition system charged 96 dls. per credit hour.
However on March 2011 the Maricopa Community Colleges Board voted to increase 230+ % the tuition for "per credit" classification, hitting undocumented students with a hike that puts higher education out of their reach. That decision came through a random revision of a law called HB2008 which relates to public benefits in the state. This law is highly encompassing, vague and troubling and was believed to affect primarily hospitals.
The consensus previous to the hike was that the MCCD was following the law and acting its due diligence to comply.
An internal memo from the colleges acknowledges there was not statutory language requiring the Colleges to restructuring the tuition system or affect or implement changes but an over zealot lawyer, Mr. Lee Combs, drove this decision.
The lawyer's interpretation took administration to order denying access to undocumented students to school related travels for the use of a bus paid with "public funding".
That is when panic started to take over. The decision to raise the tuition was bullied into administrative personnel, MCCD board members, the Chancellor Mr. Rufus Glasper, afraid of an hypothetical backlash of conservative members of the community.
Everyone started to get along with the interpretation of the in house counsel, Mr. Combs aided by the support of Minutewoman Board Member Debra Pearson which made a motion on the Board.
Activist engaged in talks to several members of the Maricopa Community Colleges District and discover several troubling situations:
.The meetings that lead to the change in policy were held away from key administrative personnel and in an unusually speedy manner.
.There was never a detailed tuition cost analysis for regular and on line classes.
.There was never an analysis of the impact of the interpretation of HB2008 on the community colleges program.
.There was never a list of the programs affected by the interpretation of HB2008 or the effect on enrollment.
Officials at the MCCD estimate than 5% of the student population or between 6,000 -8000 students will be affected by the tuition hike and most likely not return to the system. Most of the affected may be out of state citizens, persons in the process to obtain a legal status, snow birds living in Arizona.