Arizona is home to 70,800 eligible DACA DREAMers as of Dec 2020.
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In 2019, a Senate proposal to create a reduced tuition rate for Arizona high school graduates regardless of immigration status was approved in that chamber but failed in the House of Representatives. Later that year, the Arizona Board of Regents adopted a reduced tuition policy. Yet community college students who don’t have legal immigration status and are state residents still have to pay significantly higher rates for their education.
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Arizona is one of three states that prohibit in-state tuition rates for undocumented students, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
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Currently, around 2,000 undocumented students graduate every year from state high schools, with very limited access to affordable higher education options.
- In March 2021, The state Senate approved a measure that would allow undocumented students to pay in-state tuition and receive financial aid from Arizona universities if voters approve the change. The proposal aims to repeal parts of a 2006 voter-approved law that bars some immigrants from accessing public benefits. Senate Concurrent Resolution 1044, sponsored by Sen. Paul Boyer, R-Glendale, repeals parts of the 2006 law known as Proposition 300, which prohibits Arizona residents without a lawful immigration status from accessing in-state tuition and financial aid, child care assistance, family literacy programs, and adult education classes. Boyer’s proposal would exempt postsecondary education from the definition of a state or local public benefit and makes all students who attend an Arizona high school for two years and who graduate eligible for in-state tuition.