Lawmakers are pushing for the state to offer college tuition assistance to citizens — even if their parents are living in the U.S. without permission, the Associated Press reports. A bill was introduced in both chambers of the state Legislature after a U.S.-born high school student sued the state last year claiming she had been denied tuition assistance because her mother is an illegal immigrant. Assemblywoman Marlene Caride, a Democrat from West New York, announced Friday that she had introduced a bill last month to rectify that.
“College is terribly expensive,” Caride said. “We should be looking for ways to make it more affordable for our students, not costlier.”
She called the situation for students born in the United States to parents who are in the country illegally “difficult and unfair.”