At Montgomery College undocumented students hope for ‘Dream’

Undocumented students in Maryland wait for a verdict from Maryland voters that would determine whether they can obtain in-state tuition at public colleges and universities.

The undocumented immigrant children are offered education up to high school diplomas but have to pay two to three times the actual fee to attend the state’s public colleges, putting a college education out of reach for many.

Question 4 asks voters to affirm or strike down a law that the legislature passed last year, known as Maryland’s version of the “Dream Act,” which granted certain undocumented immigrants the ability to obtain in-state tuition at public colleges and universities. The subsidy comes with conditions. Among them: To take advantage, students must first go to a two-year community college.

Critics say discounting tuition for students who lack permission to be in the country is an unjustified giveaway of what they believe will amount to tens of millions of tax dollars a year.

There is no count of the number of students statewide who would be eligible for benefits under the law. Estimates range from several hundred to a few thousand.

A Washington Post poll this month found that a solid majority of likely voters favored the law: 59 percent support it, and 35 percent are opposed. If the law is affirmed, Maryland would join about a dozen other states with laws or policies providing in-state tuition benefits to undocumented immigrants. Texas became the first in 2001.

Experts say Maryland’s version is the only one that requires students to go through community college first.