DENVER | A bill that would allow undocumented students to receive in-state tuition benefits passed out of the Senate Education Committee Jan. 24 on a vote of 6 to 3.
Dozens of supporters testified in favor of the bill, saying hundreds of smart students in high schools around the state won’t be able to stay in Colorado and achieve their career goals if they can’t afford to continue on to college.
Opponents said the federal government should tackle immigration reform before the state passes any bill to give immigrant students tuition breaks.
Dorian De Long, a teacher in Adams County, said Colorado-raised undocumented high school students who can’t afford to pay out-of-state college tuition rates have no choice but to leave the state. Colorado is losing out on potential economic revenue, he said.
“We have invested in these students’ educations, we need to continue that investment, and keep these students in Colorado,” he said.
Alexa Bailon, a junior at Bishop Machebeuf High School in Denver, said she was four months old when she immigrated to Colorado, and aspires to become a doctor. “The prices for (medical) school are costly enough, and at an out of-state tuition rate, they are too steep for me and my family to afford,” she said.
The bill, dubbed Advancing Students for a Stronger Economy Tomorrow, or ASSET, would give her a chance to fulfill her career goals, she said.
Senate Bill 33 would allow undocumented students to receive in-state tuition benefits as long as they have attended a Colorado high school for at least three years or graduated from high school or obtained a GED. To be eligible for in-state tuition, they have to apply and be accepted to a higher education institution in Colorado and agree to file an application to legalize their immigration status.
Last year, a similar bill died in the Colorado House.
State Sen. Rollie Heath, D-Boulder, a member of the education committee, said “there are no more excuses” as to why an ASSET bill shouldn’t pass.
“We simply cannot afford to turn away some of our best and brightest students and lose all the investments we’ve made in them,” he said.
Some members of the education committee, including state Sen. Vicki Marble, R-Fort Collins and state Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley, said they couldn’t support the bill. Marble said the federal government should fix federal law to give illegal immigrants an efficient path toward citizenship before Colorado passes an in-state tuition bill.
“I want the federal government to address the real issue,” Marble said.
Several Aurora lawmakers have voiced support of the bill.
An emotional state Sen. Nancy Todd, a member of the education committee, said she was pleased to see that dozens of people spoke in support of the bill. During the two-hour long testimony, less than a handful of people spoke against the bill.
“Either we invest, or we put up blockades,” Todd said. “We are at this point in Colorado ready to start investing and moving forward.”
Marble, Renfroe and state Sen. Mark Scheffel R-Parker, opposed the bill.