THE DREAM ACT

While the US congress has failed to pass the Dream Act, Illinois has just joined Maryland and Utah in its passage and several other states including Oklahoma and Georgia are preparing to put it on the table. Governor Quinn has also terminated the deportation program here in Illinois.

It is sad that poverty stricken people enter this country illegally and bring their very small children with them who consequently grow up Americanized and know nothing of their homeland. Some are not even aware that they are in the country illegally.

Considering the above please take a moment to also consider this:
Federal Financial Aid is available to students who are children of LEGAL citizens and
a.) The combined income of the parents is less than $49,000.00, or
b.) Any household member qualifies for SSI, Food Stamps, Free school Lunch, Temporary assistance for needy families, WIC program, or
c.) The child of a dislocated worker.

Public four-year colleges charge, on average, $7,605 per year in tuition and fees, not including housing.

MOST students receive financial aid. In 2009-10, more than $154 billion in financial aid was awarded to undergraduate students. The average amount of aid for a full-time undergraduate student was about $11,500, including more than $6,000 in grants that don’t have to be repaid. NOTE: This data reflects those students WHO QUALIFIED for assistance, not those that could not qualify.

So lets think “doughnut hole”, not as part of the Medicare Prescription Drug program, but as the doughnut hole in the Federal Assistance for college student education. Median US household incomes in 2009 are reported as $54,401 for White, Non-Hispanic, and $49,777 for all races combined.

Therein lies the doughnut hole: The difference of $4,624 that as seen in the White population data excludes eligibility for the predominate race of America.

The average high school graduate earns $31,286 so it is easy to see how the child of a household of two working parents have been excluded from Federal Assistance for college and all the other benefits named in part b. above. Their child would qualify if they weren’t married. ( Could this be an enticement to and contributor to the rising number of co-habitation vs. marriage?)

My conclusion is that the lower middle class white population is suffering from discriminatory practices being written into law, especially the DREAM ACT. My dream is that these inequities be recognized and corrected by the US and State congressional members.

Thank you for reading.