Latin Post<\/em><\/a>, Jun. 3, 2014 for more deails.) This would be on top of the money New York taxpayers already spend providing illegal aliens with in-state tuition at New York\u2019s public colleges and universities. (See <\/i>NY CLS Educ. \u00a7 6206) Wow! Enough is enough already! New Yorkers cannot afford this additional giveaway to citizens of foreign countries.<\/p>\nMake no mistake: If passed, this legislation will harm New York\u2019s higher education system, which is already suffering a budget crisis, and, consequently, taxpayers and citizen and legal resident students. Specifically, state fiscal support for higher education has decreased by 14.7 percent, or by a total of nearly $2 billion, between FY 2008 and FY 2013, despite significant increases in enrollment in the State University of New York (SUNY) and City University of New York (CUNY) schools. During this period, New York\u2019s public colleges and universities were forced to increase tuition on average by more than 17.5%,\u00a0 reduce grants and scholarships,\u00a0 eliminate staff positions,\u00a0 close campuses,\u00a0 eliminate academic programs,\u00a0 reduce class offerings,\u00a0 increase class sizes,\u00a0 postpone necessary renovations,\u00a0 and make countless other subtractions. As a result of these budget cuts and annual tuition hikes, New York\u2019s graduates possess more education-related debt than ever, carrying an average of $25,537 of debt, with over 60 percent of students relying on loans to fund their education.<\/p>\n
A.B. 9640 would only serve to further damage and strain delicate budgets, divert funds from the state\u2019s citizen and legal resident students, reduce the quality of public education in New York, and impose additional burdens on New York taxpayers \u2013 who heavily subsidize post-secondary public education \u2013 and parents and students \u2013 through tuition hikes \u2013 to make up the loss. Clearly, this legislation is fiscally irresponsible.
![\"nyu_campus\"](\"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/nyu_campus-300x186.png\")
Assembly Bill (A.B.) 9640, also known as the \u201cNew York state DREAM Act,\u201d recently passed the New York State Assembly and is now being considered by the Senate\u2019s Higher Education Committee. The bill is a reincarnation of Assembly Bill 2597, an identical bill, which was defeated in the Senate in March of this year by two votes. This legislation, if enacted, would make illegal aliens eligible for taxpayer-funded financial aid at all New York\u2019s public colleges and universities. The bill would also create a separate scholarship fund, called the New York DREAM fund, accessible only to students who have at least one parent who is an immigrant.<\/p>\n