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Pablo would be a senior in college now. A senior in a private college, rather than a public university. Because while Pablo was a star student at West High School, he was also an illegal immigrant. His parents had come to the United States when he was just a boy, and although they’d worked hard to build a life here, they couldn’t afford out-of-state tuition at a Colorado college. And as an illegal, Pablo wasn’t eligible for in-state tuition.
We told Pablo’s story in “Head of the Class,” published in December 2004, when he was a senior at West, trying to figure out how he could go to college, looking for scholarships that didn’t require proof of citizenship.
Pablo’s story might have a different ending today. State senator Chris Romer has proposed legislation that would allow illegal immigrants who’ve graduated from a state high school or gotten their GED after attending a Colorado high school for at least three years to pay in-state tuition at state colleges — if they get into those schools, of course.
His bill moves to committee for its first consideration on Thursday. It’s an idea that’s long overdue.
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