DREAMers, DACA Grantees Return to Maricopa County Community Colleges with In-State-Tuition

In what is considered one of the most important milestones for DREAMers in Arizona and across the nation, the Arizona DREAM Act Coalition will be celebrating Monday, January the 7th the return of immigrant youth, DACA grantees, to Maricopa County Community Colleges (MCCCD) with In-State-Tuition. 

This situation comes as a reversal of bad policy on the immigration-education landscape of Arizona and it is a sign of hope for the economic future in the State and the nation, thanks to DACA.

 After the passage of prop.300 and implementation of anti-education, anti-immigrant laws in Arizona, the enrollment of undocumented immigrant youth, DREAMers, to higher education institutions collapsed.   There was no ban in place but the cost of education, which tripled by out-of-state fees, was put out of the reach of immigrant families.

With the announcement by president Obama on June 15^th granting Deferred Action for persons who arrived as children to the USA (DACA), a door was open for those who apply for this process, get a work permit, to request In-State-Tuition at Maricopa Community Colleges. 

Maricopa Community Colleges is the largest Community Colleges System in the nation.

Since 2007, when Arizona’s Prop 300 took effect and the state began to keep track of undocumented students, it has come evident the number of undocumented students attending  state’s universities and community colleges has fallen dramatically. Read this article by journalist Griselda Nevarez.  1,524 students who were attending one of the three public universities in 2007  were not able to prove a legal status. The number of students in this situation had dropped to 13 by the spring 2012 semester.

There were 1,470 students who couldn’t prove a legal status and were attending the state’s community colleges in spring 2007. By 2012 that number had dropped to 882. Most of these students were only taking one or two classes at a time.

“In the past years we saw a collapse  participation of immigrant youth population in community colleges and Universities, in spite of the talent dreamers had demonstrated when they graduate from high schools, being top of the class and valedictorians.  It is an absolute waste of human resources and talent”, said Dulce Matuz, president of the Arizona DREAM Act Coalition. “We are not seeking special treatment; we are only striving for a leveled plain field.  We are taxpayers too and we support education through our taxes, some of us for decades”, said Matuz.

To be granted In-State-Tuition at MCCCD is necessary for the DACA grantees to present the work authorization card (I-766) and another document that demonstrates their residence in Maricopa County.  This is the set of documents that may be presented (scroll down to County Residency).

The move from MCCCD granting In-State-tuitions came, in great part, to the pressure dreamers and advocates had put to MCCCD when all venues for affordable education were closed during the spring of 2011.  Dreamers had been able to access classes with in-state-tuition when taking one or two classes due to a special administrative classification in place for many years back.  ADAC members protested MCCCD and held many private meetings into the reasoning behind closing the last administrative venue for affordable tuition. Read this article on the series of protests.

So far in State-Tuition in Arizona is only attainable at Maricopa County Community Colleges District (MCCCD).  We advocates are encouraging Arizona Board of Regents and other Community Colleges in Arizona to find legal tools and grant IST to DACA grantees.

Integrity and Intensity

GED seekers are confronting serious obstacles in Arizona.  The State Legislature has been cutting Adult Education budgets to the point of starvation and Prop.300 denied public funding for undocumented youth since 2007.  The remedial high school certification landscape is a difficult one for citizen and undocumented immigrants alike.

Many persons who are reaching out to me seeking information for GED instruction are young mothers in their early 20s who dropped out of high school due to pregnancy and now find difficult to find GED instruction to re-enter education.  USCIS willingness to accept enrollment to GED programs for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) applicants without a High School diploma is suddenly increasing the demand and urgency for GED classes by these individuals.

Here is a list of challenges GED seekers are finding in Arizona and specially Maricopa County:

Decreased funding. GED instruction has been severely de-funded. In 2010, Governor Brewer signed a budget that eliminated the $4.5 million appropriation for Adult Education and GED Testing.  When Arizona eliminated this GED funding, it also lost $11 million in matching funds from the Federal government.

On line classes. Some GED outlets at Community Colleges only offer on-line classes to undocumented youth which may be a challenging setting for low proficiency students.

Students with different levels of proficiency. GED  instructors need to assess 
different levels of proficiency. It may take real commitment and monetary investment 
from some students to make up for lost time, acquire a GED certification and then
apply for DACA.

Bureaucratic barriers. Community colleges in Maricopa County (one of the largest in the nation) took time to implement new Arizona Department of Education’s ID policies and their own internal guidelines and denied GED instruction to some, especially during the first weeks after August the 15^th.  Some Community Colleges’ personnel in Maricopa County are not properly trained to offer consistent, non-intrusive enrollment procedures and question about immigration status, SS#.

Different programs, funding and models create confusion.  Non-profits are creating their own models to offer tuition based GED programs for people seeking to apply to DACA and comply with Prop. 300 at the same time.

Potential for fraud. Some organizations, charter schools are charging up to 4,500 for “High School Diplomas”; others offer “too good to be true” on-line classes. It may be difficult for immigrant youth to assess the adequate “intensity and integrity” of a GED, High School competition program, putting the burden of proof on the undocumented youth for DACA purposes.

Uneven production of enrollment documents to apply for DACA. GED outlets are still figuring out the production of documentation and receipts helpful for DACA applicants.

DREAM Act volunteer non-profit organizations, CADENA, The Arizona DREAM Act Coalition  and Tucson based Scholarships A-Z are taking the task to guide GED seekers in order to have a better educated workforce for the state and to have  young immigrants, so many times forgotten, applying for DACA.

Great Moments in 2011

I corresponded some years ago with "Franko Music", a DREAM act student who wanted information on the Legislation. Years later a friend of his tells me he is in detention. His "crime": not to set a foot on the ground (a complete stop for a motorcyclist) in an intersection. Dulce Matuz, ADAC Chair and I, go around Maricopa County Sheriff Office and ICE- Phoenix to see where he is being held while making calls to coordinate a quick campaign. Genie Zavaleta works the connection with DC. State Legislator Catherine Miranda contacts local ICE officials.

Before attending CPLC Esperanza Awards (all decked up) we get the word he would be released. (Don't even have time to write a constant contact e-mail and start a campaign). Franko is released the same day of our intervention.  You can see Franko here at time of his release.  I always wanted to liberate persons in high heels.  


Tucson DREAMer.

Great team work saves Juan Manuel Munoz from deportation.  Lawyer Jose Penalosa,  always  ready to help DREAMers, provides all the professional help. Thanks to advocates Matt Matera, Yadira Garcia and friends in Tucson we coordinate a quick case.  
I felt so honored to have Congressman Grijalva's office monitoring the situation and offering help.

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During 2011 I was happy to  continue supporting  DREAMers initiatives like Carla Chavarria's  I DREAM  Campaign and Angelica-goes- to-Washington with press releases and pro-bono work by Critical Mass Communications, LLC.

This is More on Carla's  I DREAM  Campaign.

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How can I forget? I owned Paris for two and half weeks ! Thanks MEGA.

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Complete sadness: Maricopa County Community Colleges  (MCCCD) raised their tuition, pricing out DREAMers and some citizens out of higher education. Yes, part of the Pearce legacy. More damaging, they plan to implement an obscure law HB2008 full extent, full force, extreme interpretation. Thanks to hours and hours of pestering the Board, Chancellor and Machiavellic general counsel, Lee Combs with my friend Daniel Rodriguez we managed to tone down some of the implementation of HB2008 (like asking the immigration status of students riding vans to student' congresses). Next semester 5,000+ students dropped out of the Maricopa system. 

If you ask Mr. Combs, he will deny  he intended to ask MCCCD student's immigration status " on a case by case scenario". 
To this date, the press, nobody cares about it. #couldhavebeenevenworse.

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ADAC protests the Maricopa County Community College Boards for pricing out DREAM Act students taking 1 to 2 hours. I run a national campaign to ask the Chancellor to re-consider. Great help from Jackie Mahendra and team from Change.org.  At least we take it national and it is not an unknown pain. Sadness, anger. 

Students paid good money for their education. They will take their money other place. A grear option is State Legislator Catherine Miranda's Manzana Foundation partnering with the Navajo Technical College. 
Potential lost estimated for MCCCD: FTSE 2,265 Revenue $3,222,777.00 ( I think it is even more as now).

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Thanks to educational devastation created by  MCCCD's  Legal Counsel Lee Combs, we kind of figure out there were a lot of things going wrong at the Community Colleges. I replicate the craft of the journalists (my friend Gregory Pratt comes to mind) and I start requesting information to MCCCD invoking Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  It opened a new world of possibilities and learning. POWERFUL tool. Now, I know too much (I should be killed). #Iwanttoknowmore! BUT #nobodycares!

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Carl Hayden Robotics continues kicking robotic butt. So honored to work on their press releases and know in advance how they are going to be profiled on the media. Very proud of student leader Maria Castro (profiled in a CNN special) Dulce Matuz (a robot named after her- welcome to the club!) and all the past, present and future Falcons.

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I got a phone call. An ASU student's best friend is in detention. Did an intensive research in a matter of hours. Great, beautiful young lady. Got really upset since she was about to get transported to Florence or other of the detention holes (I know what might happen there.  If you do not know, read this study by UofA).I get determined to get her out QUICK. Sent my constant contact online petition. Great help from Mohammad Abdollahi to make the petition GO NATIONAL. Nallely is out by the evening. (Michelle Dallacrose has been gaining weight ! Haha).

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Starting 2011, we were able to save Pedro Gutierrez from deportation thanks to Mohammad Abdollahi,  Lawyer Mo Goldman, the great ADAC and Pedro's mentors. Here is one of the many media clips on Pedro and the awesome PR job.
So honored to have coordinated the campaign (even when I was shivering with fever and the flu).

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I'm looking forward 2012 for more advocacy and great times !
Good bless you all, dear readers!

Why Ban When You Can Price them Out???

It is like an euphemism. Do not ban undocumented students from Higher Education just price them out. On the day Community Colleges classes start in 10 institutions in the Metro Phoenix area, members of the Arizona DREAM Act Coalition and Education Advocates mark with sadness the elimination of affordable tuition rates for out of state students.

Last March Maricopa Community Colleges District (MCCCD) approved a tuition hike close to 230% targeting “Out of State” individuals including, but not exclusively, undocumented students which already made countless sacrifices to pay for one or two classes each semester.

MCCCD is one of the largest Community Colleges systems in the nation.

“Out of State” students taking six credits hours or less (one or two classes) paid last semester 96 dollars per credit but under the new policies implemented, MCCCD is charging 317 dollars per credit or about 1000 dollars per class even if they take limited schedule. Students taking more than six credits have been already paying triple “In State Tuition” for years already.

Before the tuition hike 1 to 6 credit hours was the little window of opportunity for affordable higher education undocumented students had in one of the largest community colleges systems in the nation.

Beside the tuition hike, MCCCD voted for a harsh interpretation of laws that require the reporting to ICE and DHS of undocumented students by the institution that students are supposed to trust. The financial and admission department’s personnel are forced to report on the immigration status of the students if they disclose it. The powerful and influential Legal Counsel threatens jail time to not complying personnel.

The process in which these changes were implemented was done in secrecy, with original implementation taskforces disappearing and other political interest groups supplanting a cross-section of the departments that deal with enrollment.

The implementation of these measures is contrary to the financial health of MCCCD because they will lose income from thousands of students dropping out and now it takes more personnel time to check on the paperwork of ALL students. Also new forms have been printed, new processes established and hasty personnel training given to have the appearance of compliance also adds to the costs of implementing flawed policies.

The MCCCD board has, in short, betrayed its own mission of providing access to higher education.

The new policies are also affecting programs that MCCCD had in partnership with K-12 institutions including ACE, dual enrollment, and its own charter schools, which prepared students to move into post-secondary education. The reporting issue is also present in these environments, possibly violating Federal laws.

This situation we live in Arizona is contrary with the well-being of the State. Our State will not have a globally competitive workforce if higher education affordability is eliminated for thousands and thousands of students.

What happens in Arizona is also a cautionary tale of the spreading tentacles of a battery of immigration laws passed over a period of time.

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 students 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.