Ernestine Locsin testifies before the Virginia General Assembly in January to advocate for in-state tuition for undocumented students. (Alex Matzke/Courtesy NAKASEC)
This year, Virginia joined a growing number of states that will allow undocumented students to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities.
Once it takes effect on July 1, the new law will expand access to higher education for undocumented students who would otherwise face costly out-of-state or even international student tuition rates. Virginia Commonwealth University students classified as non-Virginia residents paid $21,308 more than in-state students in tuition and fees during the 2019-20 academic year, according to the university’s website.
To qualify for in-state tuition, students will have to prove they’ve attended a Virginia high school for at least two years, show that they graduated high school on or after July 2008 and submit at least two years’ worth of tax filings for themselves or their guardians.
Sookyung Oh, the D.C. area director for immigrant advocacy group National Korean American Service & Education Consortium of Virginia (NAKASEC), was one of the leading advocates for the in-state tuition legislation in this year’s General Assembly session. She is now part of conversations with state officials and college representatives as they weigh how to implement the new measure.
“There is definitely a lot of excitement from many people that we’re finally at this conversation about implementation, because it’s been a long time coming,” she says.
Yanet Amado, 24, was another prominent voice among a statewide collective of students who have pushed for in-state tuition reform year after year. Amado, a recent VCU graduate, has shared her experiences as an undocumented immigrant with lawmakers since 2013. She co-founded UndocuRams, a student advocacy group at VCU focused on expanding undocumented rights.
Amado is glad to see the state expand access to higher education, but says it still excludes segments of the undocumented community.
“At the end of the day, it was a small victory because we were at least ensuring that people who didn’t qualify for DACA are getting access to in-state tuition,” she says.
DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is a program established by President Barack Obama in 2012 that protects nearly 661,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought here as children from deportation and provides them with two-year work permits, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data. In 2014, state Attorney General Mark Herring ruled that undocumented students with access to DACA are eligible for in-state tuition at Virginia schools.
However, President Donald Trump in 2017 announced he would end the DACA program. Though the decision is currently under review by the U.S. Supreme Court, the USCIS no longer accepts first-time DACA applications.
State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D-Chesterfield), one of the bill’s co-patrons, says she saw the need for the legislation firsthand as a former administrator at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College.
Hashmi recalls meeting with a student who broke down in her office after sharing that she was unable to transfer to a four-year public university due to insurmountable out-of-state tuition costs.
“That’s why this particular bill was important to me because it wasn’t just this one student,” she says. “It was many, many others that I encountered throughout my career. That really brought it home with me.”
