NEWARK, N.J. – An American-born high school student from New Jersey has been denied state tuition assistance because her mother is an undocumented immigrant, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU and a Rutgers University legal clinic are representing the high school senior identified only as A.Z. in an appeal filed on her behalf in a case they claim violates both state and federal laws.
The 17-year-old, who has lived in New Jersey for at least a decade and is a graduating senior, applied for a Tuition Aid Grant from the state’s Higher Education Student Assistance Authority, or HESAA. Her state aid application was rejected, according to the ACLU, with the explanation that “her parents are not legal New Jersey residents.”
HESAA representative Marnie Grodman, the acting director of legal matters for the agency, said she could not comment on active litigation or specific student cases. She said the agency requires students or, if they are not yet legally adults, their parents to prove they have been domiciled in New Jersey for a period of at least a year immediately before the academic period for which they are requesting aid.
Alexander Shalom, policy counsel for the ACLU’s New Jersey chapter, said what appears to be at issue in this case and similar rejections he’s seen in recent months is HESAA’s definition of “domiciled.”
“HESAA is apparently taking the position that, to be domiciled in New Jersey, you must be a legal (U.S.) resident, which is contrary to established New Jersey Supreme Court precedent,” he said.
Ronald K. Chen of the Rutgers Constitutional Litigation Clinic said immigration and legal advocacy groups have seen an uptick in New Jersey of students who are U.S. citizens born to undocumented immigrants getting rejected for tuition aid.
