A Mass. law was meant to help students go to college — some say it’s doing the opposite
A student at the University of Massachusetts Boston pushed tears away from her eyes on a recent morning, thinking about her younger siblings who will be able to attend college for free.
A rising senior, who asked that her name not be used due to her undocumented status, has fought hard for her college degree. She worked over 30 hours a week for three years in a restaurant —on top of other jobs — and earned scholarships to pay the $8,000 tuition per semester.
The state's 2023 tuition equity law, designed to help all students access in-state tuition and financial aid at public universities, is leaving undocumented and immigrant students like her behind because of one qualification, according to high school teachers and counselors.
Embedded in the law is a requirement that students have completed three years of high school in Massachusetts to be eligible.
The UMass Boston student moved to Massachusetts from Venezuela with her family around four years ago for "a better future." She had completed high school in Venezuela, but enrolled at a Massachusetts high school for a year to learn how to apply to colleges and brush up on her English skills.
She has authorization to work in Massachusetts and is in the process of applying to become a legal permanent resident.
For undocumented and immigrant students who come to the country partway through high school, the three-year requirement excludes them from being able to significantly reduce the cost of attending a public university.
Sometimes the reduction could mean lowering the cost of attendance by as much as half if they don't otherwise qualify for in-state tuition.
That means that her siblings, who meet the three-year qualification, will have a dramatically different college experience.
"Sometimes I feel like it's really unfair. Because I'm the older sister, and I've just been dedicating my life to study and to work. But I'm happy for my siblings," she said, spinning a ring around her finger as her bracelets chimed.
Due to her undocumented status, she also doesn't qualify for federal financial aid through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, also known as the FAFSA.
"It's been really hard for me, and sometimes I feel like I don't take time for me," she said. "I don't have time for anything, just school and work — and not even school."
She has gone through extraordinary circumstances to remain enrolled. Many don't get as far as her.
2023 tuition equity law requirement is 'inequitable'
Oftentimes, the three-year qualification blocks many students from being able to afford college, forcing them to go into the workforce, become a part-time student or only be able to complete a two-year degree, according to Frances Melchor, a former Boston high school counselor who has worked for years solely with undocumented and immigrant students.
This often affects the around 3,000 undocumented students in Massachusetts graduating from high school every year, according to Higher Ed Immigration Portal data .
Most students who are undocumented dream of going to a selective four-year school, Melchor said.
"A lot of them come here for a better life and to go to college, and when it's time to apply, first of all, there are not a lot of resources available, and second of all, the money is not there. So a lot of times they end up just working or some of them have even enrolled in like [the] Marines or Army [for students with green cards] to cover the expenses instead of going to college," Melchor said.
Of the 24 students she worked with this past year, only four qualified for in-state tuition and aid through the Massachusetts Application for State Financial Aid, also known as MASFA, Melchor said.
"It's inequitable to put a three-year requirement because it's almost like a band-aid. They're claiming to support undocumented students who don't qualify for FAFSA, but they're putting a limit on it," Melchor said.
"Massachusetts is trying to seem more liberal and supportive — and that's not the case," she said.
MassLive reached out to several legislators and politicians to ask why the three-year requirement was created — all declined to comment or didn't respond.
Challenges within a federal landscape
The pushback from high school guidance counselors and advocates on the three-year requirement in Massachusetts comes at a time when the federal government is trying to eliminate such laws.
It is suing Minnesota, Texas, Kentucky and Oklahoma over their tuition equity laws. Since being challenged, Oklahoma and Texas have agreed to end in-state tuition for noncitizens.
The U.S. Department of Justice claims that the states discriminate against U.S. citizens who don't otherwise qualify.
Around two dozen states offer similar opportunities for undocumented students to access in-state tuition and/or financial aid, according to Higher Ed Immigration Portal data .
The lawsuits have similar tenets to what is laid out in Project 2025 , a conservative master plan that reenvisions a federal government with expanded presidential power, including over private and public universities and colleges.
President Donald Trump also signed an executive order in April calling for the Attorney General to identify and stop "in-state higher education tuition to aliens but not to out-of-state American citizens."
'You can lose everything tomorrow'
Although the UMass Boston student has been working to obtain permanent residency since moving to the U.S. four years ago, she and her family are still undocumented — something that she said remains on her mind under this current presidential administration.
"You can lose everything tomorrow. You have to live day by day," she said.
Since taking office, Trump has laid out a plan to deport one million immigrants this year, according to the Washington Post .
Her family tries not to read or watch the news with the flurry of actions against undocumented and immigrant students and families, she said.
Immigrants without legal status in Massachusetts contributed nearly $650 million in taxes in 2022 — a number that would have increased by $200 million if all immigrants had been given work authorizations, according to a study from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
Mass. officials defend tuition equity laws
While Massachusetts officials aren't aware of any legal challenges to its tuition equity law, they said they will defend the law should it be challenged, according to Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell's office.
The executive order signed by Trump doesn't apply to the in-state tuition law, according to Campbell's office.
The state's tuition equity complies with federal law because it isn't based on residency and doesn't treat people differently based on their immigration status, they said.
In Sen. Joanne M. Comerford's mind, the Trump administration's argument that non-U.S. citizens are taking seats from U.S. citizens is part of a larger "xenophobic, outright racist and sometimes dog whistle-y rhetoric."
"Our institutions are competing for students because there are fewer numbers of students accessing it," Comerford, chair of the Joint Committee on Higher Education, said.
"Opening the doors wider means we get to have more students who would have perhaps self-selected out for any number of reasons, mostly having to do with cost," she said.
Should the three-year requirement be changed?
While Massachusetts' tuition equity law was a great first step in helping more people enter higher education, it isn't doing enough, according to educators.
Adriana Costache is the cochair of Unafraid Educators, an organizing committee of the Boston Teachers Union working to support undocumented and immigrant students and families.
She runs the Unafraid Scholarship, which offers undocumented and immigrant students between $500 and $4,500 to attend college. The scholarship is supported by individual donors and by the Mass Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition.
It is one primary way for undocumented and immigrant students to afford college without qualifying for MASFA.
Of the 43 scholarship applicants this year, only nine qualified for MASFA, she said.
"I can tell you ... a lot of the students who are going to Bunker Hill [Community College] overwhelmingly say that they want to go full-time and rarely do," Costache said.
"They're going to the school based on the money — they're not like, oh I want this many classes," she said.
The three-year requirement feels arbitrary to Costache, who said she provides more scholarship money to those who don't qualify for MASFA.
At some high schools in Boston, if the three-year qualification doesn't change, the school officials are looking into holding students back to allow them to meet the requirement, according to one Boston public school counselor, who asked that their name be withheld to protect the privacy and safety of the undocumented students at their school.
"If my student ... had one more year in Massachusetts schools, she wouldn't be stressed. She would have full tuition covered because of her economic status. She would be able to go to a four-year school debt-free," she said.
The counselor said that over 50% of the students they work with aren't eligible for MASFA.
She said the removal of the three-year qualification would "really open up a lot of higher ed opportunity" for many undocumented and immigrant students who yearn to go to college.
"In some ways, I see even more of a drive than some of my students who have been here, and more of a familial drive. It's really important not only to the student, but I've seen it to be very important to the family as well — and a lot of family support behind the student," she said.
While Comerford said she has heard the concern with the state's three-year qualification for in-state tuition and aid, she said she would want to learn more from students and educators to understand whether the law should be changed.
"I want to do the most good for the most students and families. That's my interest. And I want to do it in a way that is sustainable in Massachusetts; And that's the balance," Comerford said.
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