The Show on KJZZ

Listen live weekdays at 9 a.m.

Undocumented Students One Step Closer To Receiving In-State Tuition In Arizona

By Rocio Hernandez
Published: Monday, May 10, 2021 - 4:48pm
Updated: Tuesday, May 11, 2021 - 7:58am

Aliento, one of the community groups behind this legislation, undocumented students and the lawmakers that supported it celebrated their victory in a press conference on May 10, 2021.
Rocio Hernandez/KJZZ
Aliento, one of the community groups behind this legislation, undocumented students and the lawmakers that supported it celebrated their victory in a press conference on May 10, 2021.

The Arizona House passed a resolution in a 33-27 vote that puts undocumented students currently in college and others who are college-bound one step closer to in-state tuition rates. The ballot measure will ask voters in 2022 whether they want to give this opportunity to undocumented student.

It comes nearly 15 years after a ballot measure known as Proposition 300 stripped in-state tuition away from undocumented students. The now-passed resolution will give Arizona a chance to redeem itself, said Rep. Raquel Terán. 

“Arizona has changed," she said. "Arizona is a new color and it’s a color of hope, it’s a color of love and it’s a color of dignity.”

Aliento, one of the community groups behind this legislation, undocumented students and the lawmakers that supported it celebrated their victory in a Monday press conference.

Darian Benitez Sanchez is part of a Aliento, a nonprofit that’s been advocating for something like.

“Although this building has been the building that pushed legislation like SB 1070, today we’ve seen it did the complete opposite. Today we saw that true change can happen,” said Darian Benitez Sanchez, an undocumented student at Brophy College Prep with Aliento.

But the 18-year-old, who’s graduating from high school next week, had hoped this legislation would’ve passed sooner so that he could afford to attend his dream school, ASU’s honors college.

“But for my sister … for my sister this is now possible,” he said. “She’s a junior in high school. She was so unmotivated when she saw me trying to navigate the financial process of college.”

“It didn’t matter what my grades were,” he said. “It didn’t matter what extracurriculars I did, the effort I put in, the sleepless nights, but my sister has a chance now.”

Currently, undocumented students pay 150% or more than their legal resident or citizen counterparts to attend public universities and community colleges in the state. 

Rep. Michelle Udall, who helped bring the bill forward to the House floor on Wednesday, said Arizona needs more college-educated youth and encouraged these students to take advantage of this opportunity. 

"Go to college, it's not going to be easy ... you're going to want to give up. I hope that when that day comes, you'll look back on this day, you'll remember what it took to get that opportunity to struggle through those difficult classes," Udall said. "You've already learned what it takes to preserve in the face of hardships." 

Some Republican lawmakers said they voted against the bill because they disagreed with the manner in which it was placed on the House's board. Others argued that it went too far by potential giving subsidized tuition to undocumented students along with recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Rep. John Fillmore said he didn't believe American citizens should pay for undocumented citizens to get subsidized in-state tuition. Rep. Shawnna Bolick was also concerned that it could exacerbated the "border problem."

Rep. Joel John, a Republican, disagreed with those members of his party, and reminded them this bill would not mean every undocumented students will want to go to college or be accepted by a college or university. John, who works immigrants through his years in the agriculture industry, said he doesn't believe this will encourage immigration. 

"These people who are coming here for work, they're looking for something immediate," John said. "They're not thinking 15 years down the road my kid's going to be able to pay less in tuition.

Rep. David Cook, another Republican, also voted in favor of the bill. 

"We need a trained and educated labor force for these multi-dollar industries that are flocking to this state," he said. "Let's get as many kids as we can into higher education." 

Politics Education