Just Beyond Reach : A Study on Access to In-State Tuition and Enrollment after Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, Part I-Individually Reported Hispanic Non-Citizen Enrollment & Part II-Institutionally Reported Hispanic Student and Non-Resident Alien Student Enrollment

PARTS I AND II Following its implementation in mid-2012, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals served as both a temporary reprieve from deportation for many undocumented youth in the United States and as a doorway to post-secondary education and careers beyond. However, for DACA recipients and other undocumented individuals living in the majority of U.S. states, cost of attendance and tuition remained a major impediment. This three-part quantitative study engages in a post-DACA analysis of the effect of state tuition equity policies on enrollment of likely undocumented students. (1) Focusing on the period between mid-2012 and end of 2016, the study involves a range of bivariate and multivariate statistical tests to identify and assess differences in enrollment and persistence over time based on multiple publicly accessible government datasets including both individual and institutional data on enrollment and persistence (continued enrollment in subsequent year) in post-secondary (tertiary) education. The subparts of this study analyze enrollment data from individuals and academic institutions in California, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, New Jersey, Texas, and Washington. Overall, the study found statistically significant increases in enrollment in states that changed in-state tuition subsidy policies during the DACA-era, (2) but did not find increased likelihood of student persistence in policy change states. (3) This component of the study focuses on two types of enrollment data. Part I involves individually reported enrollment data from Hispanic non-citizens in seven states, including states with pre-existing in-state tuition policies favoring undocumented students, states which changed policies to favor undocumented students between 2012 and 2016, and states which prohibited in-state tuition for undocumented students. Part II focuses on institutionally reported enrollment data about Hispanic students and Non-Resident Alien students in the same seven states as in Part I, including states with pre-existing in-state tuition policies favoring undocumented students, states which changed policies to favor undocumented students between 2012 and 2016, and states which prohibited in-state tuition for undocumented students. Part I explores statistically significant increases in individually reported Hispanic non-citizen enrollment attributable to access to in-state tuition subsidy found at two time periods between Florida (which had a post-DACA in-state tuition subsidy policy change) and California and between Florida and Texas. California also experienced a statistically significant increase in enrollment of Hispanic non-citizens between 2012 and 2016, and furthermore, enrollment of Hispanic non-citizens was statistically significantly higher in Florida in 2014 than in California in 2012. Part II explores statistically significant increases found in institutionally reported enrollment of Non-Resident Alien students and Hispanic students at public Associates' colleges in Florida and Non-Resident Alien students and Hispanic students at public Associates' colleges in Washington across the pre- and post- policy time frames. The implication of these findings is that states' choices to implement in-state tuition subsidies for undocumented individuals during the DACA-era had a positive effect on individually reported enrollment in Florida and states that had pre-existing policies