Posts Tagged: immigration

Undocumented Immigrants and College: Tear Down the Walls

Immigration reform is gathering steam. In late January, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators announced an agreement on principles for immigration reform, that may include paths for undocumented immigrants to earn citizenship. Based on earlier immigration reform proposals, these pathways to “earning” citizenship will likely include earning a postsecondary degree after a high school diploma or eq...

DC Shuttle: More Haggling Over How to Pay for Student Loan Interest Rate Extension, College Access

In a bid to break the stalemate over offsets for student loan interest rate legislation, Republican leadership in the House and Senate proposed two alternative proposals on Thursday. While general agreement exists on the desire to extend the current 3.4%  interest rate on federal student loans for one year, delaying an increase to 6.8% scheduled for July 1, lawmakers have been unable to ...

DC Shuttle: STEM’ing Immigration; Measuring Higher Ed Productivity; Funding Upward Bound

Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) introduced legislation Wednesday to create a new category of student visas for those studying in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. The bill would create a new category of non-immigrant visa for foreign students pursuing a master's degree or doctorate in the STEM fields in the U.S. Those students would have one yea...

New Kind of Ellis Island as Second-Generation Immigrants Land on College Campuses

Demographics in American higher education are changing dramatically. A recent study by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) reveals that 11.3 million people ages 16 to 26 (one in four) are first- and second-generation immigrants. Moreover, the report continues, between 1995 and 2010, immigrant-origin youth accounted for half of all growth in the nation’s population of young people overall. This ...

DC Shuttle: College Affordability Lists, DREAM Act … and Other Higher Ed News from Washington

The Education Department released College Affordability and Transparency Lists on Thursday. The 2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act requires the Education Department to produce six lists, with three examining tuition and fees and three examining each institution's average price of attendance minus grants and scholarships. The lists are also divided by type of institution (public/private, two-yea...

Study Finds In-State Tuition for Undocumented Students Boosts College Enrollment, Lowers High School Dropout Rates

Should states allow undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition at public campuses? If the goal is to increase college enrollment and reduce the number of high school dropouts, the answer is yes, according to a new study by researchers at Roger Williams University's Latino Policy Institute. The study shows in-state tuition would result in a 31% increase in the college-going rate among undoc...

DC Shuttle: Dreaming and other Higher Ed News from Washington

On Friday, Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) introduced the first (H.R. 1891) of a series of education reform bills planned by the House Education and Workforce Committee. Congressman Hunter chairs the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, and his bill is aimed at reducing wasteful spending in K-12 education. The legislation would eliminate 43 education programs in o...

DREAM Act: What It Could Mean for Waking New England?

According to a June poll by First Focus, an advocacy organization dedicated to making children and families a priority in federal policy, 70% of Americans support the DREAM Act. Rallies are occurring all across the country. There is even a hunger strike in Texas to help get the bill passed. In addition, legislators from the six New England states seem to be highly in favor of it. Eight of the regi...

Mass. Gov. Patrick Vows In-State Tuition for Illegal Immigrants

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick vowed to push for in-state tuition for illegal immigrant students at state colleges during his second term.Patrick announced the plan earlier this month at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition's annual Thanksgiving luncheon. Though no specific details were revealed, Patrick's plans draw on many of the 130 immigration reforms recommended by an ...

Conference on Immigrants as “Jet Fuel” for Jobs in Mass.

The Malden, Mass.-based Immigrant Learning Center Inc. (ILC) and Babson College will collaborate on a statewide conference for immigrant entrepreneurship to be hosted at Babson's Executive Conference Center in Wellesley, Mass. on Wednesday, Nov. 17, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.The ILC  says immigrants are "jet fuel" for entrepreneurship in Massachusetts, from neighborhood revitalization to increa...