Altering DREAM to face new Reality - Page 7

I completely agree with K-Man and citizenhope. We are not in a position to dictate the terms of a Dream Act. Hello, we're undocumented. Let the legislators do their jobs and cut deals where they think they can get the best chance for passage.

We are in a position to push for a Dream vote next year, but let's stop with the delusions of grandeur and acting like we're bona-fide insider lobbyists.

But AB540, or any future in-state tuition for that matter, is really not financial aid. Nothing comes from state monies to your pocket, specifically. In fact, all it does is place you in a different pricing category.

It could have had things like workstudy or institutional aid, but Gray Davis wouldn't sign it so it had to be watered down.

Changing the part of law to promote more states to comply with in-state tuition exemptions is miniscule compared to what access to federally-funded aid programs would be (i.e. FAFSA, Stafford loans, etc).

Either way, this is the wrong discussion to have.

CORRECT!!

You correct in saying that the Higher Education ACT does dictate who receives financial aid. However, the Dream Act itself does not do this and so we say "the Dream Act does not provide financial aid."

If you want to change the Higher Education Act to ensure that it does not provide financial aid to permanent residents or citizens then you should by all means go and advocate for those changes.

The Dream Act does not provide Financial Aid.

The Higher Education Act does dictate who receives Financial Aid.

We are trying to pass the Dream Act, not reform the Higher Education Act.

Can we just forget about this idea? First of all, it doesn't take into account the thousands of DREAMers who absolutely need loans and work-study programs in order to go to school. Secondly, even if they didn't, we cannot change the DREAM Act. That should be left up to Senator Durbin to decide whether he needs to in order to pass it, or not.

Right now we should be focusing on what we can do to help pass it as is, not on what we can take out.

right on. as is, the bill is great! it seems that fellow dreamers need to at least read the bill and become educated on it. how dumb we all look when a select few don't realize that the dream act lets us take out private loans and get work study, but it doesn't let us get grants and such from the federal government.

those select few are perpetrating misinformation. also, (i forget who said this, but kudos) you guys ... breaking news ... we're undocumented. we don't have lobbyist power and we can't dictate what gets put in and what gets left out of the bill.

i think the majority of us would be happy with becoming legal and the details on federal aid that isn't even available to us now are rather irrelevant if we won't get them after the passage.

it's safe to say that the majority of us want a chance, not a free ride. and for the ones that want a free ride, you're greedy little asswipes. we're not in a position to bargain for more when americans with papers are struggling in this economy.

Thank you CIR. I was wondering about when a select few of us became the voice for 500,000 students around the country. The 200+ or so "active" member here do not speak for all the undocumented students, nor should they try to position themselves as some kind of saviour for the DREAM Act by infusing their own personal ideas as the new reality. If you really think that then you need to get over yourself.

Wow, that's very mature.

Citi, I was done when the first few people disagreed with me and I did come around to what some of you were saying but not to those of you who choose to attack people rather than just state your case.

We know you get it, that's not the issue.

The "attacks" happen when people create 3 new threads after reading yours, all stating the same shit like "omg we should totally take the federal grants out of Dream Act who's with me."

When simply stating the case doesn't work, bolded/oversize fonts usually do. If that doesn't work either then....

Do what I do, ignore the thread and it goes away because no one responds. Which is what I thought had happened to my first thread and I'm going to do to this one now. I understand where you're coming from though about people not taking time to read the bill. We should paste a copy and sticky it.

These threads are useless and some of these people smell like trolls...