Yesterday the tuition equity bill we have been working on passed in the Senate! It will now head to the Governor's office to be signed and we are sure he will because he has stated publicly in a press conference that he will support it. This means that undocumented students will now be able to pay for a higher education at in-state tuition and not at international-rate tuition. It is a historic milestone for Oregon! This bill had been introduced time and time again for the past ten years and it is just amazing to know that after so many years of struggle it is finally going to become a reality.
The work I have done during the process of passing this bill was small compared to the huge effort that was accumulated towards it by different persons. It was a group effort through a coalition of the business sector, higher education, immigrant rights, and of course champion legislators like Representative Dembrow and Senator Courtney. I learned that for a sometimes controversial and emotional issue like this one, one must be very strategic in the way that you plan key steps of the legislative process. This bill had to be passed before another bill we are working on is introduced. Because both are somewhat contentious bills, we had to let tuition equity have its moment and then move on to our next project.
Nonetheless, I am so happy that undocumented students now have a chance to go to college! It felt really good to know that the efforts undocumented students made to "come out of the shadows" was not in vain. It was a great effort to share our personal stories to show legislators how much of an impact a lack of access to higher education has made in our lives. I hope that this momentum that has been gained in our work and community only keeps pushing us to continue striving for more positive change.
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