- Coming up on "Austin InSight," Texas Dreamers have lost in-state college tuition as a new policy takes effect.

We'll hear from a student directly impacted.

"Austin InSight" starts right now.

- [Announcer] Support for "Austin InSight" comes from Sally & James Gavin.

And also from Suerte, Este, and Bar Toti restaurants, bringing Austin together around culinary excellence to celebrate creativity, conservation, and culture in Central Texas.

(bright music) (upbeat music continues) - Hi there, and thanks for joining us.

I'm Laura Laughead.

For some fulfilling the American dream means getting a college education.

For a number of young Texans who are Dreamers, undocumented immigrants who came here as children and have lived here most of their lives, that dream may now be out of reach.

That's due to a court decision in June that upended a Texas law allowing Dreamers to qualify to pay in-state tuition rates.

The result is a huge cost increase for these students.

At the University of Texas in Austin, in-state tuition is $11,678 per year.

Out-of-state tuition is more than triple that at $42,778.

Over at Texas State University, in-state tuition is $12,220.

And out-of-state tuition is about twice that at $24,520.

Meanwhile, at Austin Community College, in-state and in-district students pay $67 per credit hour.

For out-of-state students, it's $335 per credit hour.

So how many students are impacted?

A federal commission estimated there were 57,000 undocumented college students in Texas in 2023.

According to recent reporting from the "Austin American-Statesmen," 760 University of Texas students filed paperwork for the lower cost tuition last year.

Texas State University estimates that 316 students are now paying out-of-state tuition due to the policy change.

And Austin Community College estimates about 500 students would be impacted by this new policy.

For a firsthand perspective on this, we spoke with a Dreamer UT student who asked to remain anonymous.

So first I want to say thank you so much for being here.

- [Student] Thank you for having me.

- So can you tell us how long have you lived here in the US?

Would you call this your home, right?

- [Student] Absolutely.

I've been here since I'm 15 years old, and yeah, almost eight, nine years.

This is my home.

- That's a long time.

- [Student] Yeah.

- And per this new policy, you are now expected to pay out-of-state tuition rates.

Anyone can tell you that is a significant cost increase, especially at UT Austin.

How does that impact you?

- [Student] It was shocking.

I've been navigating higher education for the past five, six years, and the change was shocking.

I was actually taking a summer class, and I was like really excited to start my last semester when the change in tuition kicked, and it went from 5,000-ish to $27,000.

And yeah, that had me in a rollercoaster of emotions.

- And how are you trying to manage this?

- [Student] Well, at the beginning, I was struggling.

I was having nightmares every night.

I've been working so hard for my degree.

When I went to high school, I graduated top 10%.

I also went to a community college where I graduated summa cum laude.

So I've been working really hard for a degree for just higher education.

And as a first-generation student, it's a goal, it's a dream.

And just having this barrier of financial barrier, it was shocking.

And yeah, I try my best to stay with my community, with my family, my friends.

But when you step on campus, the reality kicks in, and then you think like, "Will I be able to complete my career?"

- And you're clearly a great student and getting a good education is so important to you.

Supporters of this policy say that taxpayers shouldn't foot the bill for students who aren't citizens and get the benefit of paying in-state tuition.

What do you want to say to people who think like that?

- [Student] I'd like to say that I've earned scholarship money.

It's not all like from the government.

And if I had the opportunity to do more, like get a job, like if I had a path to get a work authorization and earn the money as everybody in America does, I will do it.

And I just crave that opportunity because I know I have that drive to do it.

It's just due to these policy barriers and other barriers, I haven't been able to exercise it.

But I know if I'm given the chance, I will do it and I would excel at it because the US has become my home, and yeah.

- And lastly, I want to ask you, what are your dreams for yourself after college?

- [Student] Oh, that's a great question.

I'm hoping that I can get a job, absolutely hoping.

Just, I pray for a pathway to citizenship.

I pray that I'm able to get a work authorization and find a community job.

I really like talking to people.

I've volunteered in different places with kids, with elderly, and I just feel like humans and community is my place to be.

So I feel like I hope that I can find that.

- Well, it certainly takes a lot of courage to come as a college student and speak on an issue like this.

Thank you so much for sharing your story with us.

- [Student] Thank you for hearing, for listening to me.

(bright music) - That student is getting help from a student-based nonprofit called Rooted.

Rooted raises money to help dreamers with tuition costs through an emergency financial assistance program.

The lead organizer for Rooted is a former student, Michelle, who asked that we not share her last name.

Michelle joins us now.

Michelle, so glad to speak with you.

- Yeah, it's nice to to be here.

- Can you talk about the overall climate right now for students who are undocumented?

How are they feeling?

- With the Texas Repeal Act changing a month before students were expected to go back to school, and if you think about our seniors, you know, they're entering their last year and now they're paying quadruple what they were expecting.

So the state is essentially expecting our students to pay upon 10 thousands of dollars like overnight.

Like, how do you expect anyone to make up that kind of money, especially our students?

Placing that on their shoulders.

And so this has kind of forced a lot of students to either stop their education or drastically change their plans.

So I think with everything that's going on and just the immigration climate, I think it's more frustrating that these students are specifically being targeted in this way.

So it's very uncertain, it's very heartbreaking that people have to adjust their dreams.

But I think this group of students that I've been privileged to serve are very resilient.

And I think we're finding out more that we do truly have to rely and lean on each other.

(bright music) - Now, back in 2001, Texas actually led the way in allowing undocumented students to pay in-state tuition rates for college.

At that time, the state law had strong support from conservative Texas leaders like Sid Miller, the current agriculture commissioner, and then Governor Rick Perry.

But times and politics have changed.

In June, a court decision effectively ended the policy as Attorney General Ken Paxton decided not to fight a federal government lawsuit over this issue.

We spoke with Gaby Pacheco, President and CEO of TheDream.US, a nonprofit that advocates for Dreamers.

Gaby, first let's get your reaction to this policy change.

How will it impact students in Texas?

- Well, we're very alarmed with what is happening.

Texas was the first state that ever passed such legislation.

It's been a beacon of hope, but also has been around since 2001.

Thousands of young people have been able to be able to afford a college education.

And currently right now we're talking about thousands of people who are in school and are worried about will they be able to finish their education.

At TheDream.US, we have close to 700 of those such students.

And what we know is that these students have come to the US since they were little kids.

The average age of arrival for our students was just four.

And their whole entire life, all they know is Texas, and all they wanna do is to be able to give back.

We know that the majority of our students who are working, 94% of them after they graduate are working full-time, are entrepreneurs who have started a business, and that 64% of them six months after graduating are making more money than their parents combined.

So we know the power of education, we know that this legislation has been beneficial to not just those individuals, but the state of Texas for over two decades.

And it's just alarming of how quickly this happened and how there's young people right now with uncertainty.

- And can you tell us why you think Texas was the one to lead the way in creating this helpful tuition discount for undocumented immigrants?

It was a different time though then, right?

- Very much different time, but very similar circumstances of what we're seeing in Texas.

At that time, Governor Rick Perry in 2001 was actually really happy to pass this.

And so in 2001, one of the things that Texas was seeing was a decline in young people graduating from high school, something that unfortunately we're seeing in Texas again.

And so they wanted to be able to ensure that all young people had hope and desires to be able to continue moving forward.

And college has always been a really critical piece.

And so in 2001, with the help of many people in the community, they realized and said, you know, if we have these young people going through our education system K-12, graduating from our high schools, it's only fair that they have a chance and an opportunity, not to get free tuition, but rather be able to pay like their classmates that they're graduating with.

- Now what about the federal law that Paxton cites making it illegal to give benefits to non-citizens that are not available to citizens?

- Well, the thing is that one of the problems with that is that there's nothing that is being given to these students that are not being given to citizens.

Reality is that if you have a student from Kansas or Oregon or other state come into the state of Texas, they have to wait a period, right?

They do have to pay out-of-state tuition because they haven't been paying taxes in the state of Texas.

What we're talking about is individuals and young people that regardless of their immigration status have been living in the state of Texas, contributing to the greatness of that state.

And what it says is that this law requires for individuals to have done at least minimum three years of high school, graduated from high school in order for them to be able to apply for this, right?

And they do ask that the students sign an affidavit saying that they are going to, if they have a way to legalize their status, they'll be able to do it.

So it is more of a political thing.

We know that other cases have been brought up and have failed.

And so it was to us very alarming and I think disingenuous, right, to say and cite a law that we all know that these young people, it's not about the residency, right?

It's about their time and being able to meet certain standards.

That is why they get the in-state tuition.

- That June court decision has since been challenged.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund is one of several organizations fighting to undo the decision.

We previously spoke with President and General Counsel Thomas Saenz.

Let's talk about how the US Department of Justice and the state of Texas apparently collaborated on this back in June.

What concerns do you have about the way this was handled?

- Well, we were talking about a 25-year-old law duly enacted by the state legislature and never repealed that was gone in a matter of hours in one afternoon because the Department of Justice and the Texas Attorney General's office did collaborate, did collude to put forward a lawsuit, and then immediately a resolution of that lawsuit that would strike down that 25-year-old law.

The problem with that is it does not give the public any opportunity to be heard or to put forward arguments to defend a 25-year-old law against an attack that was collusive between the state and the United States government.

- So just to clarify, as I understand the legal process here, you are asking to be able to join a lawsuit that challenges the federal court decision made in June.

How will that impact this case?

- So we're asking to intervene in the lawsuit that was filed by the United States against the state of Texas, then resolved the same afternoon.

We're asking to intervene so that we can file an appeal with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to prevent that consent judgment from moving forward.

First of all, because there was not adequate opportunity for the public to know about the proceedings and to participate in them.

And second, because they're wrong on the law.

The Texas law is perfectly legal despite what Department of Justice and the State Attorney General here, 25 years after it was enacted, have all of a sudden decided.

- So that being said.

What's the core of your legal argument for restoring the Texas Dream Act?

- It simply is not a violation of the federal law cited by the federal government.

That law, which has been on the books as long as if not longer than the Texas law, has always been there.

For 25 years, a quarter century, no one has challenged successfully that law.

And there is no basis for such a precipitous removal of the law as occurred here.

There should be a deliberative process that involves public input, including through our interveners, students for affordable tuition, so that the court can vet all of the legal contentions and determine whether in fact this law has been on the books for a quarter of century, despite violating in the view of the federal government and Attorney General Paxton, a law that predated the enactment of this in-state tuition bill.

- What's the outlook then for the next legal steps to be taken?

- Well, we are finishing the briefing of our motion to intervene.

If it is granted, we will file an appeal with the Fifth Circuit, and then we will seek to prevent the consent judgment from moving forward while that appeal is resolved.

If we are denied intervention, we will appeal the denial of intervention and seek to join with that, a challenge to the consent decree.

So the next step is likely to be the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals one way or another.

- To note, since that interview was recorded, the federal judge in this case, Reed O'Connor of Fort Worth, has denied the request to intervene in the case.

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund has appealed that decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, calling Judge O'Connor's decision quote, "Star Chamber justice."

(bright music) - As our community-based reporting team Decibel continues its focus on the Rundberg area, we have a story that highlights Rundberg's cultural diversity.

Our recent "Austin InSight" news intern Sara Solano introduces you to a family of immigrants from Syria who escaped the war there to make a new life in the US.

- [Sara] As a family-owned handcrafted dessert shop, Mohammed Tabbaa works every day, seven days a week, as some sweets are harder to craft than others.

(people speaking in foreign language) - This one is a Mabrouma, and it's the hardest.

When you try to craft it, it slips away from all sides, so you have to hold it till it like gets hard (chuckles).

- [Sara] At Baklava House, there are more than 30 different kinds of handmade desserts.

Baklava, pistachio rolls, Dubai chocolate, all served with care and a smile.

And you can't miss their Turkish coffee.

- He starts from the scratch for every single item you see here.

(green shirt speaking in foreign language) - Since he was a child, it was his first profession, his first passion in life, making sweets.

- [Sara] When he began his journey, his space was tight and capital was scarce.

- He started with a food truck where he sold food and sweets.

It takes him like years and years to build up, like get some capital, get some money to open.

- [Sara] However, the road wasn't easy.

They came to Austin fleeing the war in Syria.

Everything was new and nothing was guaranteed.

Still, Mohammed never gave up on his sweet side.

- Yeah, it was a hard road.

When you come to a new country, you have to make your documents, the language issue.

Everything was tough, everything was hard.

- [Worker] One more.

- [Sara] Yet, in the diversity of Rundberg, they found their place and their name, Baklava House.

- There's big movement here in the area and many people around from all origins, from all nationalities.

So it was a good place to sell like something for international people, international market to attract people, let them know about our culture, about our sweets.

- [Sara] Mohamed never gave up on his sweet side.

He continued crafting what he knew to do best since he was a boy, delicious desserts.

- It's his hobby, it's his passion.

And, you know, when you can join your hobby and your business in one place, this will be the best anyone could have.

They are letting other people know about the Orient, about the Middle East, and this is what they are proud of.

You will try it now and you'll see how sweet, and I'm sure that you'll come here every single day.

- Before we go, switching gears, we're talking about brain health.

What you had for breakfast, your first pet, examples of both short- and long-term memory.

Of course, your ability to remember changes as you age, but what can be done about it?

September is Alzheimer's awareness month.

A good time to talk about the myths and the reality when it comes to brain health.

We spoke with Dr.

Audrey Duarte, neurobiology professor at the University of Texas who's done extensive research on memory loss.

Dr.

Duarte, thanks so much for being here.

- Thanks for having me.

- So the prevalence of Alzheimer's is increasing, sadly.

450,000 Texans have it, nearly half a million.

That makes this topic a concern for everyone, since we're all of course gonna get older.

What exactly happens to our brains that impacts our ability to remember?

- That's a really good question.

So first, I'll just say it is true that Alzheimer's prevalence is increasing, but that's largely because the number of people over the age of 60 is increasing.

And so as the Baby Boomer generation starts to get older, so is the incidence of Alzheimer's disease.

Most people will not develop Alzheimer's disease, so that's sort of a comforting fact.

But when people do, what we think is happening is that there is pathology in the brain associated with certain proteins that are always there, but start to just kind of develop abnormally.

And we think that's interfering with neural functioning and causing dementia.

- Hmm, and thank you for that clarification, because when you hear that you think, "Oh no," like it's kind of staggering to think about, but it does make sense.

People are getting older, and with an older population these things happen.

So let's talk about some dos and don'ts though.

What's your view of brain health supplements, like ginkgo or other brands we see advertised?

Are these legit?

Do they work?

- I would say most of the supplements that you hear about with regard to increasing boosting brain functioning and that sort of thing, there's not a lot of scientific support for that.

It doesn't mean that there's zero.

It's just not enough that really would maybe make it that worth it, and it's definitely none of them are going to prevent dementia.

So that's true.

However, some of them do have pretty substantiated benefits.

So, for example, omega fatty acids, those are really good.

The fish oils, those sorts of things that people hear about, those are really good.

Not just for brain health, but for digestive health and basically every system in the body.

But again, nothing will delay or prevent dementia in terms of supplements.

- Now what about exercising the brain though?

Crossword puzzles, Sudoku, a personal favorite, playing trivia, or playing music.

What about those kind of activities in helping stave off stuff like Alzheimer's?

- Yeah, really good question.

So people really enjoy those activities for sure.

And anything enjoyable is beneficial.

You know, doing crosswords specifically, is that going to change the brain in a way that it's going to prevent dementia?

No, but that doesn't mean that it's not worth doing those activities because, again, enjoyable activities, whether they're crosswords or Sudoku or just socializing with family, friends, those are really beneficial and can potentially prevent or at least delay Alzheimer's disease.

- Can you talk about the connection between brain health and mental health?

- Oh yeah.

So mental health is very near and dear to my heart.

We study depression in aging quite a lot.

Brain health and mental health are intimately connected, so you can't really disentangle them.

If you're asking about sort of depression or mood changes in aging, this is something we don't know that much about, and we're trying to understand.

It is true that Alzheimer's pathology that causes dementia can also produce depression.

So they are connected in that way.

But neural integrity, how it supports cognition, likely supports mental health as well.

It's just, there's much more to understand I think about that topic.

- Oh yeah, I'm sure there's so much more.

It's the brain, you know, this is been a topic of study for so long and still so much yet to find out.

Is memory loss though preventable?

What is your expert advice on how to boost our brain health?

- So one thing I'll say is that this isn't something that needs to or should only start in older age.

This is something we can be doing our whole lives.

So I like to focus on the things that are malleable, things that we can control.

Genetics, we can't do anything about that, right?

But we can do things about our physical fitness, our mental health to some extent, our sleep.

These are huge factors.

So poor sleep, which unfortunately something that we experience more of as we age.

- Oh yes, guilty.

- And anyway, just some people have really difficult sleep, is really a strong predictor of Alzheimer's disease risk.

So anything we can do to benefit our sleep: mindfulness, physical exercise, socializing, wellbeing.

All of those promote better sleep.

Physical activity is a really big one.

So I would say there's probably the most scientific support for some kind of physical fitness.

The fortunate thing is it doesn't have to be running marathons, right?

- Oh, thank God.

- Yeah, it can be stretching, it can be yoga, it can be walking or tai chi.

Any of those activities have been shown scientifically to support better brain and cognitive health.

- Okay.

Note to self, a challenge for us all.

And sleeping more and walking, okay, we can make it happen.

It might be hard, but I think those are things that everyone can do.

These are some excellent tips, Dr.

Duarte.

Thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us.

- My pleasure.

Thank you.

(bright music) - That's our show.

You can watch and share any story from "Austin InSight" on the Austin PBS YouTube channel, and catch up on full episodes for free in the PBS app.

Thanks so much for watching.

We'll see you next time.

(bright music) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) - [Announcer] Support for "Austin InSight" comes from Sally & James Gavin.

And also from Suerte, Este, and Bar Toti restaurants, bringing Austin together around culinary excellence to celebrate creativity, conservation, and culture in Central Texas.