The nonprofit College Board announced Tuesday its support of the DREAM Act, while unveiling a report that said the plan to legalize undocumented college students could benefit 350,000 students today.
The report’s author, Dr. Roberto Gonzales, an assistant professor of the University of Washington, Seattle, School of Social Work, called the barriers that undocumented students face “probably the most important civil rights issue of our time.”
About 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high schools each year, said the report:
Under a 1982 Supreme Court decision, undocumented students can legally attend K-12 public schools. In most states, they can attend college. But other obstacles make that choice difficult. Most states require them to pay out-of-state tuition rates. They don’t qualify for federal financial aid. They can’t legally work to pay for college.
“As they leave the protections of the public school system, they move into an adult legal world … ,” Gonzales said Tuesday during a release of the report on Capitol Hill. “
