Just saw an interesting article about 2 young women who wanted to stay close to home for college, but were unable to apply to the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech … so they will be going to Harvard.
I know how proud their parents must be - the image of the mom and daughter crying as they looked at the acceptance online is beautiful.
It’s a nice story, but if I was a Dreamer I’d be keeping a low profile for the next 4 years (at least). I’m not sure getting your name in the news like this is a good idea.
Great story … but where’s the associated story about the two children of legal immigrants who did NOT get into Harvard because these two did? Those parents went through all the paperwork, details, and time to become legal citizens. You know, did the right thing.
The parents are not admitted; the kids are. And they have done nothing wrong.
@droppedit - my DIL came to this country on a student visa and did everything according to what she was legally able to do. This played a role in her course of study and how much it cost her to go to college. It was so frustrating to her to watch other students (who were here illegally) who did not follow the rules get a much better deal. For example, they paid in-state tuition prices but as a student on a student visa, she had to pay out of state tuition prices. Absolutely not fair.
If their families have been living in the state and paying state taxes, how is it not fair that they should be treated as state residents?
But, as I always say in these cases, Just Say No to publicity of this kind. It is unlikely to end well.
I lived and paid taxes in California on an H1B visa. I had to pay out of state tuition for evening courses. I thought that was not fair.
the counter-examples here listed here are not analogous–the in-state rates are commonly extended to students who went to public school in the state, not who moved there as an adult and then suddenly expect an instate rate.
Harvard is private, anyway.
Good for Harvard.
According to the article, both families are “low income”, so they most likely haven’t paid much in taxes. In addition, their HS is in one of the richest areas in GA, if not the nation. They already benefitted illegally from all the taxpayers in that county. Now they’re going to the most elite university in the world without paying anything. There are millions of American kids in the middle (not to mention inner-city and country kids) who can’t afford to get into Harvard or other Ivys and don’t qualify for (enough) aid. Talk about unfair.
Apparently Harvard has decided that winning the lottery of being born in one country over another is more “unfair”.
Pretty sure few of the children of legal immigrants, middle class, etc who didn’t get in would be willing to trade the circumstances of their lives with these kids just for the opportunity to go to Harvard.
I know I would feel I have failed as a parent if my kids felt it was unfair that they couldn’t have been born into a more disadvantaged life just so they could get into a prestigious university.
Complain to Harvard. They’re the ones who made the decision. Nobody else had a hand in it.
Oh, c’mon. Harvard didn’t admit them because of their legal status. Do you really think these kids weren’t a) accomplished, b) deserving, c) put forth great apps, d) have shown their potential to master Harvard and go on to influence others?
I adore stories like this one. People assume the worst, cling to some one line and blow it up.
The two students in question are both DACA students. Yes, while they may be undocumented, they are legally here in the U.S. and can legally work in the U.S.
It is not that they were unable to apply to UGA, you can apply any where you want.
Their challenge with UGA is that because they are not citizen/permanent residents, they are not eligible for federal or state aid. This is the case with most DACA student where ever they live in the U.S. (yes, there may be exceptions for state aid in some states, but those cases are few and far between). For them getting admitted to UGA was not the problem, it would have been being able to afford to attend. By being low income students, they could not afford to attend.
The other challenge would be whether or not they would be eligible for in-state tuition. If they are not eligible for instate tuition along with being ineligible for aid, the UGA was not an affordable option for these two young women.
They had to roll the dice and apply to schools that were need blind and met 100% of their demonstrated need for all students regardless of their status in the U.S. Currently their are only 5 schools in the country that are need blind and meet 100% demonstrated need for all. They took a gamble on Harvard and it paid off.
@droppedit
“According to the article, both families are “low income”, so they most likely haven’t paid much in taxes”
I have no idea how education is funded in GA, but where I am from, public education is funded primarily by sales taxes and property taxes. Since we know poor people generally spend all the money they make, low income families pay a higher percentage of their income toward education funding than do upper income families who save and invest a large share of their income. Even if they are renting, they are indirectly paying the property tax portion of educational funding.
Basically, what I’m saying is that in many states, this family would have paid MORE than their fair share. Now, they are not eligible for the public education that they helped pay for. Bottom line: if you have kids in a public college, the undocumented families are probably subsidizing their tuition.
The system is broken and is insulting! Illegals shouldnt be allowed to attend and when you hear stories of scholarships orspots being taken by a undocumented vs a Visa or US citizen it makes my blood boil.
^huh? it’s a PRIVATE school. They can do whatever they want with their money.
What’s broken is the pipleline that transmits factual information.
Who are these illegals that you speak of? The 2 students in the article are legally here in the U.S.
No @sybbie719 DACA does not make these students legal. DACA recognizes that they are here illegally, but guarantees that any deportation action must be Deferred until, theoretically, immigration reform and paths to legal status legislation is worked out.
BTW, if you don’t like the fact that these 2 girls are going to Harvard and their citizenship status, well then you really won’t like that the incoming class is 10% international students (none of whom are US citizens) who also get there financial needs met, so what’s the difference?