Thread: Should illegal immigrants have in-state tuition benefits?

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Should illegal immigrants have in-state tuition benefits?
September 22,2006
BARRY SMITH
FREEDOM RALEIGH BUREAU
RALEIGH — Last year, a political firestorm erupted when four state House members — two Democrats and two Republicans — introduced a bill that would allow illegal or undocumented immigrants who reside in North Carolina to have access to in-state tuition rates at the state’s public universities.

While a big-name supporter of the legislation, former Gov. Jim Hunt, recently revived debate on the issue, a spokeswoman for a Latino advocacy group said the bill will not likely be revived when the General Assembly returns to Raleigh next year.

“I don’t think that North Carolina is prepared to have that discussion in the next few months,” Marisol Jiménez-McGee, advocacy director for El Pueblo, said.

Ten other states have laws or policies allowing illegal immigrants access to in-state tuition benefits at their public universities or community colleges. Some report that hundreds, if not thousands, of such immigrants are taking advantage of less-expensive tuition rates that the statutes and policies bring.

In some states, such as Texas, in-state tuition is offered to a number of categories of students who wouldn’t otherwise qualify.

“There’s a whole bunch of different categories of people that would qualify for this,” said Ray Grasshoff, a spokesman for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. “Undocumented students are just a part of this.”

Such students would include diplomats or people from other nations on valid visas working in Texas. During fall 2005, the most recent time available, 5,300 students were taking advantage of the program, Grasshoff said.

In California, 1,130 students who otherwise would not have qualified received in-state tuition benefits, said Ricardo Vazquez, a spokesman for the University of California system.

He said about 30 percent of that number, or 343, were likely undocumented immigrants. “We don’t necessarily ask that question,” Vazquez said.

Vazquez gave an example of other students who could qualify for the California in-state tuition rates. He said a student who had attended a boarding school in California but whose parents lived in another state would qualify for the tuition break.

Most of the states require stipulations similar to the ones included in the North Carolina legislation in order to be eligible for in-state tuition. Those stipulations include:

t Attending high school for three or four years in the particular state.

t Graduating from a high school in that state.

t Signing an affidavit pledging to seek legal residency or citizenship in the United States as soon as they are eligible to do so.

In some states, such as Washington, a comparatively small number of students have taken advantage of the tuition break.

“Since the law was passed three years ago, only a handful of students, perhaps 200, have pursued the opportunity,” said Kris Betker, a spokeswoman for the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Since many of the students do not receive financial aid, the $5,000 annual in-state tuition charge isn’t affordable, she said.

Oklahoma showed similar results.

“Fewer than 300 out of about 230,000 total enrollment are taking advantage of it,” said Ben Hardcastle, a spokesman for the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.

Some states’ public university systems say they do not track such information.

“I think there may be something of a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy,” said Don Sevener, a spokesman for the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

It’s too soon to tell, said Sharon Stephan, a spokeswoman for the University of Nebraska Board of Regents, where lawmakers recently overrode a governor’s veto of the in-state tuition bill.

“It went into effect after our largest campus had closed the application process for the year,” Stephan said.

Spokesmen for public university seats in four other states (New York, Kansas, New Mexico and Utah) could either not be reached or didn’t return phone calls.


Barry Smith can be reached at bsmith@link.freedom.com

but HELL f****** NO!! someone get rid of these parasites!

Should illegals have in state tuition? two words HELL NO

Should illegal immigrants have in-state tuition benefits?

Yes at Taco U in Mexico

No way!!!!

What are illegals the chosen people who should get an never ending supply of freebies off the backs of LEGAL AMERICANS!!!

This would be an injustice if this happened!!

Actually, I think they should pay more than out of state tuition. More of them would go their own countries for their secondary educaton.

Should illegals get in-state tuition? No. And those who are here should be paying an exuberant amount which we can call out-of-country tuition fees until they get kicked out for being here illegally.

They shouldn't receive any benefits. The word "illegal" means breaking the law. You don't reward illegal activity, you arrest and deport the criminals.