27 marzo 2008

the best news i've heard all day...

"why do we need to learn this, miss?!" -her
"you're going to need this in college someday!" -me
"uh, yeah right. i'm not going to college." -her
"why ever not?" -me
" 'cause you have to have a social security number... and i don't." - her

* * * * *
"Several states -- Texas, California, New York, Utah, Illinois, Washington, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas -- have passed state laws providing in-state [college] tuition benefits to illegal aliens who have attended high school in the state for three or more years."

"These state laws attempt to circumvent the federal law by simply not asking students whether they are in the US legally. "

"The heart of the controversy concerning in-state tuition for illegal immigrants is a conflict between pragmatism, compassion and fairness. ...

Education increases tax revenues and decreases spending on welfare, health care and law enforcement. (The 1997 report The New Americans by the National Research Council found that immigrants -- both legal and undocumented -- with a college education save the government money, while those with just a high school diploma consume more in services than they contribute in taxes.)"

"... If the parents do not have a social security number or the social security number fails the match, they should use 000-00-0000 as their social security number on the FAFSA form. "

many thanks to finaid.com