Immigration Reform 2014: Virginia DREAMers Gain Right To Pay In-State Tuition At Public Colleges

Young undocumented immigrants brought to the United States illegally by their parents and raised in the state of Virginia will now be eligible for in-state tuition rates at public universities and colleges there after the state’s attorney general issued a legal opinion on the matter on Tuesday. The benefit will be extended to “Dreamers” who have been approved for a temporary legal status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which President Barack Obama established in summer 2012. Recipients will also have to prove continuous residence in Virginia for at least one year.

The Washington Post writes that the state’s Democratic attorney general, Mark R. Herring, made the announcement on the Alexandria campus of the Northern Virginia Community College before a room full of Latino students, immigration activists and education officials. “We should welcome these smart, talented, hard-working young people into our economy and society rather than putting a stop sign at the end of 12th grade,” he said. The Post also noted that his opinion -- which is immediate and binding -- comes only months after the state legislature voted down a bill which would have given about 8,100 Dreamers the right to in-state tuition.

According to the National Immigration Law Center, Virginia joins sixteen other states in enacting legislation making in-state tuition -- and in some cases, state scholarships and financial aid -- available to young undocumented residents. South Carolina and Alabama have gone in the opposite direction, passing laws prohibiting undocumented students’ enrollment in public colleges and universities. The New York Times notes that a group of immigrant graduates from Virginia high schools but who had struggled to pay out-of-state tuition for college withdrew a suit against the state shortly after Herring’s announcement; similar lawsuits are pending in Arizona and Georgia.