[Oasfaa] OHLAP/immigrant student update

[Fair, Bryce]

Following are some updates related to OHLAP (Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program) and the eligibility of undocumented immigrant students for state financial aid programs.  Its a bit lengthy, but I wanted to include everything that seemed important.


(1)  OHLAP-Plus for 2003-04:  As you may be aware, OHLAP-Plus provides a supplemental award for certain OHLAP students.  For the current 2002-03 year, OHLAP students have to be receiving a Pell grant and have an EFC of $1,000 or less to be eligible for OHLAP-Plus.  OHLAP-Plus is funded completely by federal GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undegraduate Programs) grant funds; we are currently in the fourth year of a five year grant period.  In order to focus the remaining GEAR UP/OHLAP-Plus funds as effectively as possible, we will apply the following criteria for the 2003-04 year:
*	Only OHLAP students who graduated in 2002 and earlier years will be eligible for OHLAP-Plus.  We anticipate about 4,000 new freshmen OHLAP students from the high school graduating class of 2003.  That's more than all the approximately 3,000 total OHLAP students we are paying this year.  We simply do not have enough federal GEAR UP funds to cover new incoming freshmen OHLAP classes.  One of the objectives of GEAR UP is to increase financial aid for Pell-eligible students.  We are sustaining this GEAR UP objective through the tremendous increase in OHLAP enrollments that has generated additional state financial aid funding for Pell-eligible students during the period that GEAR UP has been in place.
*	The $1,000 or less EFC criteria will still be applied to OHLAP students that graduated high school in 2002 and earlier.  These students must also be Pell Grant recipients; students with an EFC of $1,000 or less that have been suspended from federal aid are not eligible for OHLAP-Plus.
The current OHLAP eligibility list we provide already shows each student's high school graduation year so we hope this will keep administrative difficulties to a minimum.  Please let Carol Alexander (405-225-9160 or calexander at osrhe.edu) or myself know if you have administrative concerns about this issue.


(2)  Funding for regular OHLAP in 2003-04:  The current state funding level for OHLAP is $4.7 million.  As I mentioned above, we expect to have about 4,000 new freshmen OHLAP students next year.  Based on our current estimates, we will need the funding level increased from $4.7 million to between $10.2-$11 million, depending on the rate of tuition increases effective for fall 2003 [a 7% increase would be the low end estimate; a 15% increase would be the high end estimate].  That's an increase of $5.5-$6.3 million.

While we remain optimistic for full funding of OHLAP in 2003-04, we know this will not be an easy task.  In the event that there is not sufficient funding for all eligible OHLAP students, the OHLAP statutes currently set priorities for awarding available funds.  Following is the text of a postcard we are sending out to all OHLAP high school senior students that explains these current funding priorities [of course, the Legislature can always modify the priorities, if it so chooses].  I've included the whole text of the postcard so you will know what the OHLAP students are receiving.

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[text of postcard]
Reminder:
Our records show that you are a high school senior enrolled in the OHLAP program. 

What's next?  The OHLAP contact person at your high school must complete a Certificate of Completion form that we will send to the school in April and return it to our office after graduation with a copy of your final transcript.  Upon verification of the requirements, we will send an award letter directly to you at home.  Nothing is final until you receive this letter from our office.   When discussing financial aid with the institution you plan to attend, please inform the financial aid office that you are a potential OHLAP student.   
Remember, you are responsible for completing all of the program requirements by the time you graduate high school, including the required courses and meeting the two GPA requirements. (2.5 in overall courses and 2.5 in the 17-unit OHLAP courses).

OHLAP scholarships are paid from funds appropriated by the Oklahoma Legislature.  If at any time there are not enough funds to pay all eligible students, the State Regents are directed by law to use the following priorities to award scholarships: (1) OHLAP students who have previously received the scholarship will be awarded first*; (2) new OHLAP college students who enrolled as 8th- and 9th-graders will be awarded second*; (3) new OHLAP college students who enrolled as 10th-graders will be awarded third*.
* If funds are not sufficient for all eligible students in the category, distribution of the available funds will be based on current financial need.

Contact the OHLAP office at 1-800-858-1840 or 225-9239 (OKC area) or email us at ohlapinfo at osrhe.edu if you have questions.

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(3)  OHLAP Annual Report:  If you are interested in viewing our most current OHLAP Year End Report for 2001-02, it is now available on the web at:  http://www.okhighered.org/ohlap/OHLAP-2001-2002.pdf


(4)  Undocumented immigrant students:   Upon recommendation from legal counsel, the State Regents "posted" several amendments to the administrative rules for state financial aid programs at their meeting this Thursday, December 5.  In short, the amendments would exclude from participation in state student aid programs any person who is not a "U.S. citizen, a non-citizen national of the United States, or a qualified alien."  State Regents' legal counsel believes that the State Regents are currently bound to this legal position unless there are changes in state and/or federal law.  There was no action on the proposed rules at the December 5 meeting; however, the Regents could act at their next meeting on February 21, 2003 to adopt the rule amendments (in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act).  If approved by the State Regents in February, the amendments would then be subject to approval by the Governor and the Oklahoma Legislature.  You can see the related agenda items on pages 93-138 of the agenda book for the State Regents' December meeting at: http://www.okhighered.org/agendas/December-2002.pdf. 

This issue is a very sensitive and controversial one, especially in the growing Hispanic community.  It's also a very unfortunate situation for the students affected.  I have also attached a copy of a letter to Oklahoma legislative leaders and a couple of articles about recent related events in the state of Virginia.  

 <<12-02-02-let-undoc students-rtf.rtf>>  <<Va. Order Decried by Immigrant Advocates (washingtonpost.com).htm>>  <<11-19-2002-Hi-Ed Chronicle.htm>> 



Bryce Fair
Assoc. Vice Chancellor for Scholarships & Grants
Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education
Phone:  (405) 225-9162
Fax:  (405) 225-9230
E-mail:  bfair at osrhe.edu

Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 108850
Oklahoma City, OK  73101-8850

Street Address:
655 Research Parkway, Suite 200
Oklahoma City, OK  73104

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