Utah tuition law helping hundreds of students

Without the help of in-state tuition, Silvia Salguero likely would have spent her days cleaning houses. Instead, the University of Utah alumna and daughter of undocumented parents was able to earn a nursing degree and finish school on a full-ride scholarship.

It has been almost eight years since the children of undocumented immigrants have been permitted to pay in-state tuition to attend colleges and universities in Utah. The law, which has been duplicated by several other states, has been challenged nearly every year since it passed, but it remains unchanged and is currently benefiting 644 students, who contribute to Utah's rising enrollment numbers in these trying times.

"These kids want to be doctors, lawyers and public servants. They have overcome tremendous obstacles — language barriers, poverty, abuse at work, public anger — to earn the privilege of sitting in overcrowded lecture halls, and they are fully, painfully aware of what a privilege it is," said Karen Crompton, executive director of Voices for Utah Children, which released a report last week examining the state's experience in dealing with the status of undocumented students since HB144, Exemption from Nonresident Tuition, passed during the 2002 Legislature.

"Even though this program affects only a few hundred students throughout the state, we're supportive of anything that helps students get a higher education who wouldn't otherwise have that opportunity," said William Sederburg, Utah's commissioner of higher education. He said he believes the provision to be "sound policy."

Through the years since the bill passed, lawmakers have turned down multiple repeals, even some including additional stipulations that would have required students to promise not to work while going to school. The hundreds of students who currently pay in-state tuition don't necessarily cost the state any more to teach, as the Utah System of Higher Education isn't funded on a per-pupil basis.

However, the law saves those students several thousand dollars each year, from $2,800 to more than $19,000, depending on which school they choose to attend. After enrolling at the U., Salguero discovered her legal right to an education ended at high school. She returned her books and dropped her classes and went back to shift work before the 2002 bill was passed, but said she "wanted a good education."

While she may have lost her scholarships, Salguero never lost hope, "even while working as a housekeeper in Park City to help her mother pay the bills," according to a U. alumni newsletter published after Salguero received a new scholarship and was able to realize her dreams.