On July 15, members of the Washington Dream Act Coalition held a press conference at El Centro de la Raza to raise awareness about the piece of federal legislation called the DREAM act.

The Washington Dream Act Coalition is a statewide student activist group that formed several months ago in support for comprehensive immigration reform and the Dream Act.

The Dream Act is a piece of bipartisan legislation that will provide immigrants without legal citizenship the chance to become permanent residents.  A person would  be granted a six year temporary residency, in which time they must complete two years  in a program for an associate degree or higher, or serve for two years in the military to receive permanent citizenship.

Through the 1982 Supreme Court Case, Plyler v Doe, Elementary and Secondary education is guaranteed to undocumented children brought to the US by their parents. However, this ruling fails to address what will become of these youth after high school.  Approximately 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school each year without being able to continue their education or receive the same treatment as permanent residents. Only a small fraction of youth continues on to receive a degree or even gain regular employment.

If the Dream Act were to pass, undocumented youth would be entitled to the same benefits at permanent citizens when applying for colleges or higher institutions of learning.  These young people have lived in America all their lives and were brought to America at a very young age. They had no say in what happened to them but through this legislation, could finally have a voice of their own.

Carlos Padilla, one of the fifty five founders of the Washington Dream Act Coalition alongside Alonso Chehade, Carlos Ganz, Tania Santiago and Vivi Perez will be lobbying in Washington D.C.  on July 20, 2010 gathering more than 400 students to the capital.

How can you help?

You can visit their website to join the coalition and become a dream activist!

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The Georgetown University Center for Education and the Workforce says so!

Not only are they guaranteeing that there will be jobs, they are also predicting HOW MANY jobs will be available to you, you personally, depending on how far you are through school. Take a look at some of the data here… it is intriguing to say the least. Table here.

In 2018:

If you went the distance for a graduate degree, there will be: 353,000 jobs available to you

If you graduated college with a bachelor’s (4 years of college): 730,000 jobs

Got your associate’s degree (2 years of college): 853,000 jobs

Finished some part of college: 399,000 jobs

Have graduated high school: 888,000 jobs for you

Dropped out of high school or are still finishing up: 325,000 jobs

But take a closer look at the table! It also shows WHICH OCUPATIONS those jobs are available in.

The field with the most available jobs: office administrative support (think Michael Scott!) with 519,000 jobs up for grabs. This field is also relatively friendly to people without college degrees: 229,000 of the 519,000 are slated for people who finished some college or less.

The field with the smallest amount of jobs available in 2018: social scientist (only 21,000 jobs, half of which will require a graduate degree!)

Bottom line: there will be jobs. Twice as many jobs for people who have some level of college education. And those jobs are primarily available in the healthcare, education, science and technology, and professional office management fields. This isn’t groundbreaking information, per say, but it is interesting to consider that of the 51 states, Washington has the 6^th highest percentage of jobs that require post secondary schooling.

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Esther. She’s 99 years old and is hitting the streets to collect signatures in order to get initiative 1098 on this November’s ballot.

Here’s why. Due to recession, Washington’s been cutting back funding for education. Slowly but surely its taking its toll on our schools—class sizes are going up, sports and extracurricular fees are increasing, electives are disappearing, and we don’t have the money to replace textbooks. Not to mention, statewide college tuition is rising and programs to help subsidize students are diminishing.

1098 would create a new and steady funding source for public education.

What’s 1098? It’s a revenue-generating initiative that would tax Washington’s top income earners. That means that if you make over $200,000 dollars a year, you’re getting an additional tax on your income. And guess what, that only applies to 3% of Washington’s population.

In addition to taxing our state’s high-earners, this initiative will cut property tax by 20% and eliminate the Business and Occupation (B&O) tax for 375,000 small businesses. This means tax breaks for more local businesses.

Back to Esther. How incredible is this woman? If you’re 18, sign up here to get the initiative on the November ballot.  If you’re not 18 and want to help out, e-mail me! We’ll be out on the streets, just like Esther, making sure Washington can approve I-1098 this fall.

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Hoping to secure a job this summer? Well, good luck. A new study shows just how discouraging the job market is for young people, “unemployment rates for both college graduates and non-graduates younger than 25 are nearly double their pre-recession levels.” This doesn’t really feel like news. For any of us out there hunting—we already know how tough the process is!

What is troubling about this information is that unemployment rates for high school and college graduates are both down—equally! This raises so many questions in my mind—mainly, why are students putting themselves into and average of 20k worth of debt for a 4-year degree?

A recent study from the Gates Foundation gives us a demographic look into this generation of college students—and college students are changing. More often than not, people enrolled in our nation’s institutions of higher ed are what policymakers call “non-traditional students.” In fact, 75% of our student population is “non-traditional.” If 75% of students enrolled are “non-traditional,” then it’s probably safe to say that traditional is no longer the norm.

Some more info to arm you with: of this group of students, 67% are working full-time while enrolled in classes while 44% work part-time. Only 14% are living on a college campus. These figures are blowing the notion of traditional schooling to bits. Bits.

This is not all to suggest that we give up on college, by any means. There is still plenty of data suggesting the more education you have, the better chances you have of getting work and also making more money once you get hired. What we’re seeing though is a REAL need for reassessment. If you’re thinking about college soon or are currently enrolled in classes, these are issues you are going to want to read up about.

For full texts of these articles, check it out here:

A Student Debt Crisis that cannot be Denied

Job Market for Class of 2010 Worst in Recent Memory

Unemployment and Educational Achievement

Lastly, Kanye West may or may not have made these similar claims about six years ago on an album called “The College Dropout.” You can also read up about that, here.

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Mayor McGinn is asking the Seattle community for their feedback on how to spend the City’s money—and he’s hosting a special forum on April 8^th specifically for young people to voice their opinions.

It’s a part of the City’s Youth and Families initiative, a project that will collect community input on Seattle’s most pressing issues. The information gathered will directly influence the upcoming Education and Families Levy, which is up for renewal by voters in 2011.

So far, discussions have been lively, large, and have inspired an incredible range of topics. Watch this video of the community forum held at Denny International Middle School to find out more about what’s been going on.

Youth Summit:
April 8
Bertha Knight Landes Room in City Hall
4:00-6:00pm

If you are interested in participating but are not able to attend the meeting on the 8^th, League of Education Voters is helping to coordinate smaller community caucuses. E-mail Maggie@educationvoters.org to find out more information!

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I’ll admit, for a minute there last Sunday, March 21^st I was glued to CSPAN. It was the health care debate (and I’m using the word “debate” liberally—it was more like a verbal joust, with dems and reps haranguing insults at one another and the speaker having to cut pretty much everyone off).

The last time I was glued to CSPAN, David Banner and Master P were testifying to congress about stereotypes in hip hop. I wouldn’t make that up.

While nothing entirely tangible came from Mr. Banner’s and Mr. P’s testimonies, we got something awesome out of this more recent debate. You guessed it, a more comprehensive health care plan!

And little known to students everywhere—SAFRA was tucked away all nice and warm in the recent passage of this historic health care reform.

Education Week writes a fantastic wrap-up of everything the House vote approved last Sunday, but here are the basics:

“The bill rewrites a four-decades-old student loan program, eliminating its reliance on private lenders and uses the savings to direct $36 billion in new spending to Pell Grants for students in financial need.

… the bill would also provide more than $4 billion to historically black colleges and community colleges.

‘By moving to the federal government’s direct loan program, we will put the best interests of students first and make college loans more reliable and affordable,’ said Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, D-Texas, the chairman of a House higher education subcommittee.”

This week the Senate will vote to approve this same bill, but because it has been fast-tracked with health care, will only need 51 votes to be approved.

Looks like lower interest rates for student loans is on the horizon! Well done, Washington D.C.

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It’s happening—again. We’re talking about getting more fiscally responsible with student aid. The House passed SAFRA last September and now it’s up for action again. This week. This time around the bill looks a lot different, but if it makes it through this reconciliation process in a timely manner, it could be pushed through along with health care reform!

Currently in our country, you can apply for federal student loans to help pay for college—and the government will dole out the dough if you are eligible. However, these loans can come at a big price if you’ve got 4 years worth of debt and a crazy-high interest rate. With our old plan, the Federal Family Education Loan Program, one bank and one bank only got to distribute the loans (and subsequently, set the interest rates for repayment). Her name was Sallie Mae.

SAFRA says no to Sallie, in a big way. If the Senate is to pass this act, the government would take control over the lending rates and eliminate the third (private) party… saving us $68 billion dollars that will then be reinvested back into public education via the Pell Grant program.

Sounds like a win-win situation for everyone except the Sallie Mae Foundation, who have been profiting off of student debt for far too long.

Show your support for SAFRA. Sign this petition put together by Senator Patty Murray.

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Watch as UWers participate in the March 4th National Day of Action. Students across the country are protesting the privatization of public institutions of higher education, demanding affordable tuition and fair treatment of university workers. For more information, check out the UW’s Anti-Budget Cuts (ABC) coalition’s blog site here.

hey hey! ho ho! budget cuts have got to go!

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State lawmakers are considering budget cuts that will impact thousands of college and university students across the state. LEV, the Washington Student Association and the Washington Bus are working together to urge parents and students to contact their legislators.

Watch the video of two UW students, Ashwaq and Colette, as they share their struggles with college affordability and then contact your lawmakers to urge them to protect funding for higher education. Please tell them how you, your friends, your kids and your relatives rely on Washington’s State Need Grants and/or Work Study programs in order to attend and complete college.

You may have heard that tomorrow is a national day of action on college campuses across the country. Look for rallies on the UW, Western Washington, Evergreen State College, and Seattle Community college campuses!

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It’s March 2^nd. There are 10 days left in Washington’s 2010 legislative session. Guess what that means? It’s CRUNCH TIME, still. Just like yesterday. This week in Oly, legislators are tackling some big issues related to our state’s budget deficit (refresher, we’re 2.8 billion dollars in the hole). Plenty of programs have been proposed for cuts—and too many of these programs hurt the pockets of students.

One (of several) programs that are at-risk this session is Work Study. These are part-time jobs for students on campus which help the university fill necessary positions, help the student earn some extra cash, and help our economy by graduating students with real work experience.

Governor Gregoire has proposed to cut Washington’s ENTIRE work study program. Both the Senate and House have proposed to cut this vital program by at least $7.4 million dollars.

Here’s why Washington can’t afford to cut work study:

Work study programs provide part-time jobs to 9,400 students across the state, at 55 different campuses

For these 9,400 students, their annual earnings make up about 15% of their average financial aid package.

Work study jobs, on average, help fund $3,000-4,000 dollars of tuition per student, per year.

Can you imagine what it would take to make up for that missing money? If you think Work Study is as vital a program as we do, e-mail your legislators today and tell them to FULLY FUND Washington’s Work Study program. Let’s see some new revenue, too!

Speaker of the House:

Frank Chopp: chopp.frank@leg.wa.gov

Senate Ways and Means Committee Leadership (who delegate the ca$h)

Margarita Prentice: prentice.margarita@leg.wa.gov

Rodney Tom: tom.rodney@leg.wa.gov

Karen Fraser: fraser.karen@leg.wa.gov

House Ways and Means Committee Leadership

Kelli Linville: linville.kelli@leg.wa.gov

Mark Ericks: ericks.mark@leg.wa.gov

Pat Sullivan: sullivan.pat@leg.wa.gov

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