Dream Act is a great investment

Our view: Costs of immigrant tuition bill are small, and the benefits for taxpayers are large

If there is any flaw in the analysis it is that it underestimates the degree to which increasing the education level of this cohort of students will reduce eventual costs to government. The researchers included the likely reduction in incarceration in their model — the only cost reduction they were able to reliably estimate — but not the reduced use of various social safety net services. They also were unable to include the value of increased benefits better educated workers are likely to receive — health insurance, retirement benefits, etc. — or the fact that better educated, more successful workers are likely to have better educated, more successful children. That is to say, this study, which finds substantial fiscal benefits from the Dream Act, is almost certainly understating its value.

The emotional, philosophical and moral debates stirred by the referendum on this issue are certainly important. But on a practical level, there is no question: The Dream Act is good for Maryland.