1,000 signatures reached
To: Texas Legislators
Tell Texas Legislators: Keep In-State Tuition!
*Update on Texas Tuition Equity Repeal Bills*
The Texas Legislature meets every two years to introduce and pass legislation for our state. In 2015, we defeated every bill slated to repeal in-state tuition and state financial aid for undocumented students. The Texas Legislature began meeting this January 2017, and legislators have already filed bills that if passed, will eliminate in-state tuition for undocumented students. More recently, the Texas Senate has referred SB 141 to the Senate Higher Education Committee. SB 141 would eliminate state financial aid for undocumented students and like in-state tuition, state financial aid allows undocumented students to become Texas college/university graduates.
Join us by signing this petition to ensure our futures aren’t crushed by anti-immigrant bullies in the Texas Legislature. Demand that Texas legislators keep in-state tuition and state financial aid for undocumented students.
Why is this important?
If anti-immigrant Texas legislators get their way, I won’t be able to complete my education.
My name is Maria Gonzalez-Treviño, and I am an undocumented honors student attending the University of Houston. I hope to obtain my bachelor’s degree in Political Science by May 2018 and my ultimate dream is to go to law school and become an immigration attorney to help immigrants in my community. Unfortunately for me and thousands of students across Texas, our dreams might be crushed by the end of the legislative session.
I will fight against these bills and similar ones because I see many other undocumented students’ stories as a reflection of my own. Let’s be clear; these bills are an attack on our ability to pay the in-state tuition rate at Texas colleges. As a first generation college student, I struggled to adapt to the college environment. Doubling or tripling tuition fees would only make college even more inaccessible for many of us.
Everyone should have access to an education regardless of their skin color, religious beliefs or immigration status. We have the power to make sure that undocumented students like myself keep dreaming and achieving their educational and professional aspirations.
If enough Texans sign this petition and share our stories, Texas legislators will see that we mean business when it comes to protecting everyone’s right to an education, allowing undocumented students to pay in-state tuition, and protecting educational equity. The more we speak up, the more pressure they will feel to stop playing political games with our education.
Don’t they know by now? You don’t mess with Texas Dreamers.