Posted on by arotherham

Immigration And Higher Ed

USAT takes a look at the move to financially restrict the access of immigrant students to higher education.   Just as the military has a fast-track to citizenship program for immigrants, why don’t we create one for promising immigrant students who finish high school here and then let those students access the standard price scheme and financial aid packages as citizens?

2 Replies to “Immigration And Higher Ed”

  1. I like the general idea. I like linking to something that exists — the military program.

    However, to gain support in today’s political climate, I think you’d have to add two things:

    1. Not just finish high school, but finish high school with 3.0 GPA.

    You inserted the word “promising.” The question is what would a political moderate, like, say, Susan Collins of Maine believe is “promising”?

    Finishing high school is probably not a proxy for what most Americans think of as “promising” (though it probably does = “top half of all illegal immigrants given graduation rates being what they are).

    2. Some large dosage of public service.

  2. The article you linked to only refers to illegal immigrants.

    The military, under current law, does not take illegal immigrants, though there is a proposal under consideration in congress.

    I disagree with the GPA requirement, because I can see that easily being tweaked by sympathetic teachers/schools (witness the degradation of standards in the Douglass High School documentary).

    I would think that the DREAM act in itself is enough, though I would be in favor of some alternate service provision for very promising students who didn’t meet the physical standards of military service.

    A requirement based on just H.S> education would lead to fraud, be hard to enforce, and sets to low a bar.

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