Rutgers Student Union fights for equal tuition rights, funding

The Rutgers Student Union plans focus this semester on campaigning for legislation that would allow children of undocumented immigrants pay in-state tuition and qualify for financial aid.

“There is a group of people being discriminated against for [an unjust] reason,” said Marios Athanasiou, a member of the Rutgers Student Union.

State Sen. Teresa Ruiz, D-29, chair of the Senate Education Committee, said Senate bill S2479 and Assembly bill A3509 represent opportunity. State Sen. Nellie Pou, D-35, and State Sen. Sandra Cunningham, D-31, are co-sponsors of the bill.  

“[These students] are Americans and New Jerseyans in their own right, many who have attended schools in this state nearly all of their lives,” Ruiz said. “Allowing the hard-working children of undocumented immigrants to have the same opportunity to get a college education … is the right thing to do.”

Unlike other bills rejected from New Jersey’s legislature, the new bills include an amendment that states that the student must apply to become a U.S. citizen.

President Barack Obama implemented the DREAM Act last year that allows young people who are pursuing an education to live in the country legally, Ruiz said. But one of the issues students still face is the inability to qualify for in-state tuition at public universities because of their residency status.

“With a system in place at the federal level that allows for validation of a student’s residency status, there is no excuse not to act,” she said.

For commuters at the University, the current cost for in-state tuition is $13,073 per year, according to the University’s Undergraduate Admissions website. The expenses can rise to $24,485 a year when room, board and an average meal plan are taken into account.

Non-New Jersey residents living off-campus pay $26,393 a year for tuition and those who live on campus pay $37,805 a year, according to the website.

Spencer Klein, president of New Jersey United Students, said the bill has a list of requirements that students must meet to be eligible for in-state tuition.

Qualified students must have attended an N.J. high school for a minimum of three years and possess a high school diploma or GED, said Klein, a School of Arts and Sciences senior.

Candidates must also register or be enrolled in school, file an affidavit to become a lawful citizen, and submit a request for deferred action, he said.

Senate Bill S2479 and Assembly bill A3509 have been introduced to New Jersey’s legislature in the past, but never garnered enough votes to pass through the Assembly. Although no one in Trenton has openly expressed opposition to the bill, Athanasiou, a School of Arts and Sciences sophomore, said supporters of the bill should not feel too comfortable.

“We’re speaking to legislators to not only inform them of the legislation but to receive their support so that it can do better this time,” he said. “The opposition is still unknown at the time, as it hasn’t presented itself.”

Klein said New Jersey passing the bills would be a big step in a direction toward supporting undocumented immigrants. But other states are in the process of passing bills that will restrict the rights of undocumented immigrants.

“In certain states, undocumented immigrants can be inspected at any time, for essentially not being white,” he said. “They don’t have big signs saying they are illegal.”

Students of undocumented immigrants who need financial aid can only apply for private loans. But these rarely get approved, Klein said.

“[Students] are not eligible for public loans, and private lenders will not touch them with a 10-foot pole,” he said.

Klein said getting University President Robert L. Barchi to sign off on the bill would secure bipartisan support for the legislation.

“Other state universities look to Rutgers and if we sign off on this, they might too,” he said. “With the backing of a public research university on this bill, it would be impossible not to pass. This would make massive strides in immigration reform.”

Klein said many students of undocumented immigrants who pay federal and state taxes and should be eligible for their benefits.

“They pay taxes, sometimes more than U.S. citizens,” he said. “This bill is just ensuring that they are able to reap what they sow.”

Alex Gaigg, a School of Arts and Sciences junior, said he supports the bill because the students affected are still U.S. citizens.

“They are U.S. citizens, they should have access to school,” he said. “It should not be based on their ability to prove their parents nationality, but on the ability to prove their own.”

Meredith Reitz, a School of Environmental and Biological Sciences sophomore, said the lack of access to higher education is a moral issue.

“It is unfair to deny someone access to education, especially when that education has become necessary in this century,” she said.

Daniel Munoz, a School of Engineering senior, said that the issue of undocumented immigrants getting access to higher education is two-fold, just like applying for citizenship is a tedious process.

“All they have to do is apply for documentation, and they will have access to public funding,” he said. “However, they have to basically jump through hoops to get documented. There are multiple parts to the issue.”