Students go through identification verification at voting polls in Stamp Student Union on election day. Voters upheld the DREAM Act on Tuesday night.

Undocumented students will be able to pay in-state tuition rates if they meet a set of requirements, after voters upheld the state’s DREAM Act on the state ballot.

After more than a year of petitions, rallies and lobbying, supporters of the Maryland DREAM Act saw their efforts pay off: the measure passed last night with 57.3 percent of voters in favor of the referendum, as of midnight. After the statute passed the state’s House of Delegates in 2011, opponents quickly mobilized to put the issue before voters on the state ballot. While opponents have argued the legislation rewards those who break the law, advocates maintained the act is a matter of equality for residents and will be a boon to the state’s economy.

To qualify, students must have attended a state high school for at least three years, earned 60 community college credits and proven they or their parents have filed state taxes for at least three years. The DREAM Act was the first piece of legislation in 20 years to be successfully put to referendum.

The state’s vote follows the Obama administration’s summer directive, which protects young undocumented immigrants on a national level. It protects immigrants under 30 who were brought to the United States illegally before they were 16 and are either a veteran in good standing or working toward a high school degree from deportation while they continue their education.

The state DREAM Act mirrors the national directive, and supporters on the state level hoped Obama’s order would provide the necessary momentum to pass the state act. With yesterday’s vote, Maryland earned a place in the history books as being “a step ahead of the federal government,” government and politics professor Robert Koulish said.

“It’s going to make Maryland a leader in what’s going to eventually happen nationally anyway,” Koulish added.

Many prominent state figures, including Gov. Martin O’Malley and university President Wallace Loh, have lent vocal support for the legislation. Over the past few months, the campus became a sort of base camp for DREAM Act supporters, playing host to a number of rallies and marches.

“We knew it was going to pass, but I thought it was going to be closer,” state Sen. Roger Manno (D-Montgomery) who co-sponsored the bill, said. “We’re extremely proud. It was those kids, hundreds and hundreds of kids, who made that bill a reality, who came to Annapolis knocked on doors, told their stories. It’s an extremely proud moment for the state and for the country.”

Officials have debated the possible detriments of the measure, such as the financial burden of providing additional resources to undocumented immigrants. However, the legislation would cost just about $3.5 million a year in state funds by 2016, according to the state’s Department of Legislative Services. In addition, new students attending public universities and community colleges through the DREAM Act would comprise just about 0.1 percent of the total population enrolling at public state schools next fall, according to a University of Maryland, Baltimore County study.

The same study also found each new graduating class under the act could potentially generate $66 million for the state economy.

“Everyone knows this is the difference for some really hardworking kids between going to college and not going to college,” said Kristin Ford, spokeswoman for Educating Maryland Kids.

Still, 42.7 percent of voters opposed the referendum, as of midnight. Jimmy Williams, a sophomore journalism and finance major, said he was convinced the cost of the DREAM Act would be too great.

“I’m disappointed in the passage of the act, to be honest,” Williams said. “We’ve seen the polls, where tax payers will be subsidizing the students as opposed to bringing in the money from out of state students.”

Williams added that he has an issue with the eligibility requirements of the act, which require students wishing to seek coverage to show only proof that their parents filed income tax, which he points out doesn’t necessarily mean the tax was paid.