(Name-mce) ListServ Indiana settles scholarship suit

[Anselmo Villanueva]

Indiana settles scholarship suit

Following a settlement between Indiana and the state's American Civil
Liberties Union, native-born children of undocumented immigrants there
will be able to receive aid under the state's 21st Century Scholars
program, which provides college awards to graduating high school
students of low-to moderate-income families. The ACLU brought the case
in March 2006 on behalf of an Indiana student who applied for the
program in seventh grade, but could not complete the application
because her parents did not have social security numbers.

Complete story below.

Anselmo
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http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070108/NEWS02/701080389

State settles scholarship lawsuit
Some immigrants' kids weren't eligible

Associated Press  Courier-Journal  Louisville, Kentucky  1-8-07

ELKHART, Ind. — The state and the American Civil Liberties Union of
Indiana have settled a lawsuit over a scholarship program that denied
eligibility to the native-born students of parents who were in the
country illegally.

Under a settlement filed recently in U.S. District Court in
Indianapolis, the state no longer will require parents to be U.S.
citizens or legal residents for their children to receive aid under
the 21st Century Scholars program, The Truth newspaper reported
yesterday.

"There was a real problem. You can't have someone who's a U.S.
resident be denied benefits because of the status of their parents,"
said Ken Falk, legal director of the ACLU of Indiana. "The purpose of
the 21st Century scholarship program is to encourage bright and
upwardly mobile students to go to school in Indiana and stay in
Indiana. To deny them seems to be outrageous."

The scholarship program helps students who are U.S. citizens and have
graduated from an Indiana high school pay for four years of tuition in
a public college or university. It's intended to help low- to
moderate-income families, reduce the number of high school dropouts
and increase the number of students going to college. The amount of
the scholarship varies.

The ACLU of Indiana brought the case in March on behalf of a former
Elkhart County high school student identified only as E.C. in court
documents. The girl, who was born in the United States, applied to the
21st Century Scholars Program while in seventh grade using her own
Social Security number. Problems arose once she graduated and was
asked for her parents' Social Security numbers to receive her
scholarship.

The settlement will apply to past, present and future students who
were found ineligible or did not apply because their parents were not
U.S. citizens or legal residents, the newspaper report said. Affected
students must be notified before the court can approve the settlement.

State officials said no students were denied eligibility because their
parents were not citizens or lawful immigrants, but they acknowledge
73 applications were returned because students did not list Social
Security numbers for their parents or guardians. Those applicants will
be notified and receive new applications, the settlement stipulates.

The state also will publish legal notices in major Indiana newspapers.

The ACLU and the state are asking affected students to apply again no
later than March 10 of this year.

The state will not need to reimburse students for tuition they've already paid.

Students who file for the scholarship need not worry about immigration
authorities learning that their parents are not in the country
legally, said Cynthia Wardlow, Hispanic enhancement recruiter and
adviser with Indiana University-South Bend. Schools and postsecondary
institutions are not immigration-reporting agencies, Wardlow said.

"That information is not shared and is not supposed to be shared.
We're obligated to educate the student regardless of their status and
the status of their parents," she said.

The ACLU estimated in the lawsuit that Indiana has 75,000 to 100,000
noncitizens without lawful residency status. Children born to those
people while they are in the United States are legal citizens.