In N.J. bill, tuition break for some undocumented

TRENTON Giancarlo Tello, 23, didn't know he was in the United States illegally until he was a sophomore in high school and his mother told him he couldn't get a driver's license.

Other realizations followed: Tello, whose parents brought him to New Jersey from Peru when he was 6, learned he didn't have a Social Security number. He couldn't work, except at odd jobs. And he couldn't receive financial aid to go to college or qualify for in-state tuition.

While he earned enough as a tennis coach and computer instructor to attend Bergen Community College - hitching rides from his father, who woke him at 5 a.m. and picked him up from the school at 11 p.m. - Tello couldn't afford to continue a political science major he had begun at Rutgers University, he said Thursday.

He's hoping to reenroll based on the outcome of a bill moving through the New Jersey Legislature that would allow undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition and apply for state financial aid. To qualify, students must attend high school in New Jersey for at least three years, and must graduate in New Jersey or receive the equivalent of a high school diploma.

The Senate is expected to vote Monday on the measure.

"This problem isn't going away. . . . They're here. We can't ignore it," Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester) said before a committee vote Thursday, after Sen. Steven Oroho (R., Sussex) asked whether the bill would be "enticing" more illegal immigrants to the state. "This is an opportunity to be fair."

New Jersey in 2011 was the state with the seventh-largest number of undocumented immigrants, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Last year, 909,000 noncitizens - including legal permanent residents, undocumented immigrants, and refugees - lived in New Jersey, according to American Community Survey data. Of that group, 88,000 were college age, between 18 and 24.

Just a small percentage of that group would have graduated from high school and would seek to use the tuition equality benefits, according to Erika Nava, a policy analyst at New Jersey Policy Perspective, a liberal-leaning think tank.

"It is really hard to estimate this population," she said.

In Texas, which Nava said has three times as many undocumented immigrants as New Jersey, 16,000 students benefited from in-state tuition in 2010, and 60 percent qualified for state financial aid, she said.

Proponents of tuition equality make both a moral and economic case. Young undocumented immigrants are no different from their peers and not at fault for decisions their parents made, supporters say. And after paying for an undocumented child's public-school education for 12 years, it is to the state's benefit that the child get a college education and help contribute to the economy, they say.

"New Jersey can't afford to keep placing roadblocks to higher education," said Milly Silva, a union leader who ran for lieutenant governor as Democrat Barbara Buono's running mate. Silva touted a need for "high-skilled workers" to attract businesses and jobs.

While 15 states have passed tuition equity legislation, and university systems in three additional states have adopted similar policies, states that grant financial aid to undocumented immigrants - who cannot qualify for federal college aid, such as Pell grants - are less common. California, New Mexico, and Texas allow undocumented immigrants to apply for state aid.

Assembly Speaker-elect Vincent Prieto (D., Hudson) said Thursday that he wanted the Assembly version of the bill to mirror the Senate's, sponsored by Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D., Essex), with access to state financial aid included. The bill must pass both houses before it can go to Gov. Christie's desk.

A Christie spokesman said the governor does not comment on legislation before it is passed. At a gubernatorial debate last month with Buono, a state senator, he said he had "never been opposed to tuition equality."

"What I've been opposed to is making that choice when there are other choices that needed to be made in the budget," Christie said. Now that state revenues are improving, he said, "this is now something that we need to sit down with the Legislature . . . to talk about how we could responsibly fund tuition equality."

At a Senate committee hearing Thursday, Republicans voiced concerns. "Any legislation . . . should not put American citizens at a disadvantage," said Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R., Morris), who objected to "a struggling family in a neighboring state - American citizens" paying more to attend a New Jersey school than an undocumented immigrant.

Bill supporters say they're asking for equal treatment, not advantages. Sen. Linda Greenstein (D., Middlesex) said many undocumented immigrants pay sales tax and filed income taxes, using individual taxpayer identification numbers.

"They are paying their way as best they can, and when they're documented, eventually they'll pay full freight," Greenstein said.

The committee ultimately supported the bill on an 8-3 party-line vote, with one abstention.

For Renata Mauriz, 20, "my dream is to be able to go to law school," she said.

Mauriz, of Morris County, came to New Jersey from Brazil eight years ago, overstayed her visa, and never left.

Mauriz's mother, who had moved from Brazil years earlier, "asked me to stay," Mauriz said. "She knew we belonged together. I couldn't stay without her any longer."

Like other students, Mauriz benefited from the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy enacted last year, giving temporary relief from deportation to undocumented immigrants ages 15 to 30 who came to the United States before they were 16, had lived here since 2007, and had graduated from high school or were in school, among other factors.

In New Jersey, 28,500 immigrants were immediately eligible for the policy, according to the NJPP. So far, 16,000 have applied.

The policy let immigrants like Mauriz get a driver's license, Social Security number, and work permit. She has earned enough waitressing to attend the County College of Morris, though she pays $350 per credit hour, instead of the $134 paid by in-state students.

Tello, who also received deferred action, said he at first didn't understand what it meant that he was undocumented. He remembers taking the SATs and realizing he needed a Social Security number.

When he decided to apply to Rutgers-Newark, "my friends thought I was crazy," Tello told lawmakers. Annual tuition is $24,742 for out-of-state students, compared with $10,718 for residents.

"It baffles my mind I am considered a nonresident after living 17 years here," he said.