Dreams deferred

Wyo DREAMers pay higher tuition, fettered by strictures

Despite dropping out of Rawlins High School during her junior year to help her mother, and becoming a mother herself, Cintia still had aspirations of getting her General Equivalency Diploma (GED) and going to college for nursing. When she went to the Carbon County Higher Education Center (CCHEC) to take the test for her GED, however, she ran into a roadblock. She was told that before taking the test, she would need to present her social security number (SSN). Cintia did not have an SSN.

Cintia was, and still is, an undocumented immigrant. She is also a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and will be speaking at a DACA Symposium scheduled to take place at the University of Wyoming.

At the her behest, after having spoken with her attorney, the Saratoga Sun will only be using her first name.

“I always knew I would have issues growing up,” Cintia said.

After speaking with her attorney, Cintia learned that she could file for an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) and use that as a form of identification for the GED test. An ITIN is issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to “foreign nationals who have federal tax reporting or filing requirements and do not qualify for SSNs” as well as “a nonresident alien required to file a U.S. tax return.”

The ITIN worked. Nearly a year after her initial attempt, Cintia was able to return to CCHEC and get her GED. During that same time, she had also applied for her first work permit. That process took nearly two years and included a trip to Casper to have her fingerprints and photo taken for a background check.

“By the time I got my work permit, I had not worked for a whole year,” said Cintia.

Once she received her work permit, Cintia knew she needed a well-paying job to save up money for college. She would, through some serendipity, end up getting hired by one of the contracting companies at the Sinclair Wyoming Refining Company (SWRC).

“When I got my (first) work permit, and it was only for two years, I was like ‘I have two years.’ I never thought after those two years I could renew again. I was taking advantage of those two years I had,” Cintia said.

Cintia was able to renew her work permit. She has now had two successful renewals and had worked at the refinery for nearly three years. After that time, she made the decision to leave her job and begin taking college classes.

While applying for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), she discovered another impediment: undocumented immigrants, even under DACA, are not eligible for federal student aid.

“Now what? Now I have a part-time job, I’m working two days a week, I thought it would be easier. I thought I would get some help for my classes,” said Cintia.

While she did not receive any federal aid for college, Cintia did receive a scholarship worth $1,000 from Soroptimist International of Rawlins. She also received three free credits from CCHEC for getting her GED through the center. Despite the scholarship and the free credits, Cintia ended up paying approximately $4,000 for four nursing classes.

“I had those four classes the first semester and then the next semester I found out they were charging me out-of-state tuition,” said Cintia.

A resident of Wyoming, attending Western Wyoming Community College (WWCC) as a part-time student, pays $125 per credit hour. Anyone who is not a resident pays $313 per credit hour, a 40 percent increase.

Despite living in Wyoming for more than 10 years, Cintia was still having to pay out-of-state tuition because she was not a U.S. citizen. She was told that WWCC couldn’t help her with her tuition because she had a GED instead of a high school diploma.

It was around this time that Cintia heard about the case of Isabel Perez, another DACA recipient. Perez, as reported by Wyoming Public Media in October 2017, had graduated from Green River High School and had received the Hathaway Scholarship among other scholarships. Shortly after midterms, however, Perez had been informed that her scholarships had been removed and she would be charged out-of-state tuition.

“I’m paying out of my own pocket for my schooling right now and, on top of that, I’m paying double because I am considered an out-of-state student. I’ve lived in Wyoming for more than 10 years, but because I’m not a citizen or resident I’m still considered out-of-state,” said Cintia.

A pathway to citizenship currently does not exist under DACA. The program, created through an executive order by former President Obama, instead provides deferments for a two-year period for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children and who were under the age of 31 as of June 15, 2012.

“We have to pay $500 every two years … we have to get our fingerprints taken, we have to get our pictures taken, they have to run background checks on us … so they can approve us for another two years,” said Cintia.

Cintia struggles with anxiety on a near daily basis, especially since the DACA was rescinded by the Trump administration in September 2017. When she was asked to speak at the symposium by one of the organizers, Jose Rivas, she took the chance. She said that by speaking she hopes to educate people on the realities of living under DACA.

“You don’t know what the rules will be the following year,” Cintia said, “Am I going to have two more years, and I going to have one more year? Will it be cancelled tomorrow?”

According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, over 600 DACA recipients live in the state of Wyoming and, according to the Center for American Progress, ending DACA could cost the state nearly $39 million in annual GDP losses.

The symposium is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. on Feb. 24 at the University of Wyoming Conference Center located at 2229 Grand Ave in Laramie.

 

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