As of Sept. 10, international students who qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program are eligible for in-state tuition at Sinclair Community College.
To qualify for the DACA program, individuals must have entered the U.S. before the age of 16, have five years of continuous presence since June 15, 2007 through June 15 2012, enrolled or graduated from high school or an equivalent education program or have a GED certificate, no felonious, substantial misdemeanor or multiple misdemeanor charges, no threats to national security or public safety and at least 15 years old, but no more than 30 years old at the time of filling out the application.
“These students are not eligible for federal financial aid and they’ve been paying out of state tuition as well. So if you combine those two things, it’s a really big difference because it cuts the other tuition almost in half and could allow students who have this permission to attend here,” Anthony Cruz, vice president of Enrollment Managment said.
Students who qualify can receive in-state tuition upon proving DACA status, as well as proving in-state residency for at least a year. After providing the necessary documents, students can start receiving tuition as soon as spring semester.
“The reason we’re trying to get students to do it now is so that way, when they register for classes, it’s almost seamless,” he said. “Their bill will be run and when it’s run, it will show that they have in-state tuition.”
Cruz said it could take months to get involved in the DACA program. However, once students are involved and can prove residency status in Ohio, Sinclair can take up to a day to process the information in order to change the students’ tuition rate.
Currently, there are no students who have come forward for the lowered tuition.
“We’ve reached out to these students that may qualify for it and no one has come forward,” Cruz said.
If a student meets the requirements, they should visit registration with the appropriate documentation to get qualified.