Kaila White

The Republic | azcentral.com

After years of hard work and sacrifice, Eduardo Lujan-Olivas' dreams of attending a university almost died an hour before his first class.

Lujan-Olivas, 23, is a “dreamer," or a young undocumented immigrant brought to the U.S. as a child. He has been approved for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which temporarily shields young immigrants from deportation.

He earned numerous academic awards and distinctions during his time at Pima Community College and then earned a large scholarship to attend Arizona State University and its prestigious Barrett, the Honors College this semester.

As he was preparing for the first day of class Aug. 18, he received a phone call from ASU stating that his scholarship, a tuition waiver worth more than $20,000 over two years, had been revoked because of his immigration status.

Although private donors scrambled to fund his first semester, Lujan-Olivas still needs help funding his other three semesters.

His situation seems to be caused by a breakdown in communication between the national honors society that awarded him and the state governing body that oversees his award, highlighting yet another obstacle undocumented students face in the higher-education system.

An outstanding student by all measures

Lujan-Olivas explained his story on a GoFundMe page to raise money for his tuition; it has raised more than $12,000 in 15 days.

During his time at Pima Community College, Lujan-Olivas was a student-government vice president, volunteered more than 300 hours with groups including the Humane Society of Southern Arizona, won awards and was inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society for two-year colleges and programs.

He applied to and made the 2016 All Arizona Academic Team, an honor for which Gov. Doug Ducey wrote a letter in February commending the team. Lujan-Olivas' name is on the signed letter.

As part of making the team, he earned a tuition waiver for two years at ASU, University of Arizona or Northern Arizona University.

In April, he was chosen as one of the top 20 community-college students in the country and became a member of the 2016 All-USA Community College Academic Team.

'I cannot describe the frustration'

Throughout school, he worked part time at a QuikTrip convenience store to support his mother and younger sister.

"There have been many times I wasn’t sure if I’d make ends meet or have food to eat," he wrote. "While it is difficult juggling all these activities, I am determined to be successful in all my endeavors."

After graduating in May with honors, he was accepted to study in ASU's College of Public Service and Community Solutions, according to ASU. He has long dreamed of studying criminology and criminal justice.

He moved from Tucson to Phoenix, transferred his job and signed an 18-month lease. The tuition waiver has been approved on his ASU account since July.

"I cannot describe the frustration, disappointment and confusion I felt when I received the phone call from the Financial Aid Office on the first day of classes" revoking the waiver, he wrote. The person he spoke with told him to withdraw from classes, pay full tuition out of pocket, or seek scholarships with deadlines that have already passed.

Base in-state tuition for a full-time student is $10,370 per year. Add books, supplies and other expenses to get ASU's cheapest estimated cost of $19,125 per year.

Inconsistent criteria and lack of communication

Phi Theta Kappa sets the criteria students need in order to apply to be on the academic team and earn the tuition waiver. Their criteria includes citizenship, and the DACA documentation was on the approved list, said Karrie Mitchell, a Pima Community College assistant vice chancellor overseeing student affairs.

“It sounds like where (the) breakdown is at is ABOR (Arizona Board of Regents) … doesn’t follow the same criteria that PTK does, but that’s something that’s never been communicated to us until this happened,” she said.

"If ABOR has known about this in the past, then it would have been nice for them to let us know that, even though the national level is communicating one way, that they would not accept students who had the same list, because then we could be truthful in talking with the students."

Regents: Regrettable, but he's still ineligible

“Foremost, it is truly regrettable that Mr. Lujan was awarded the All-Arizona Academic Team scholarship, only to find out that in fact DACA students are not eligible for the scholarship,"Regents President Eileen Klein said in a statement Tuesday.

“Last year, following the ruling by the Maricopa County Superior Court, for the first time Arizona’s public universities were able to offer eligible DACA students in-state tuition. Yet, our universities remain bound by federal laws on financial aid that preclude DACA students from receiving any state or local public benefit (U.S. Code § 1621).

“That is the crux of the issue. Despite these state policy changes, Mr. Lujan’s plight points to a gap that still exists for DACA students – federal policy that keeps them locked out of state and federal financial aid.

“Mr. Lujan is eligible for privately funded financial aid and I am pleased to learn that he is receiving private aid to assist him.

“The All-Arizona Academic Team Scholarship is an excellent opportunity for community college students to receive a scholarship to our universities. We are in communication with the community colleges as well as Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Society — the entities that nominate the students for the scholarship — to remind them that at this time, DACA students remain ineligible for this scholarship at Arizona’s public universities. We are committed to working closely with them on any needed changes to prevent this kind of disappointment to students in the future.”

The undocumented scholarship problem

The regents decided in May 2015 to allow undocumented students who are approved for deferred action to pay in-state tuition instead of out-of-state prices.

To qualify, they must submit proof they’ve been approved for DACA, which doesn’t grant them legal status but allows them to stay in the U.S., work legally and not be deported by registering with the government.

About 100 undocumented students registered at Arizona’s public universities last fall.

That status still disqualifies them from federal, state or university financial aid, such as merit-based scholarships and Pell grants.

In Lujan-Olivas' case, the Arizona Board of Regents had been required to verify his eligibility to receive the tuition waiver.

"I chose Arizona State University out of a pool of Ivy League colleges and other Arizona universities because I knew I would be best educated here," he wrote on GoFundMe. "I fear Arizona’s broken education system will not allow me to complete my educational goals."

"The 'bigger picture' is financial aid for DACA students in Arizona," he told The Republic on Wednesday. "There are thousands of college students across the state of Arizona that have encountered the same dilemma. My story just happened to go viral and is one of many out there."