Column argues well for making ‘access’ affordable

TO THE EDITOR:

Christian Yoder’s column (“Make ‘access’ meaningful,” Sept. 30) on community college access for undocumented immigrants speaks well from an advocacy standpoint. Immigrants are part of our state and fill the larger portion of some important occupations.

Latino immigrants cross to our country at great costs and live separated from loved ones.

I have met one whose wages support the lives of his widowed mother and seven older siblings, and another who hasn’t seen his wife in five years. However, I do not feel that they come at such tremendous cost for a community college degree.

Saying access for undocumented immigrants is a basic human right ignores the always-murky debate on immigration policy, and also the availability of on-the-job training, which most prefer over the classroom anyway.

My question is this: If American community colleges offer subsidized access to undocumented immigrants, are we not holding their native countries to the same basic human right to teach and train their own citizens?


Benjamin Houck
Graduate Student
City Planning