Thread: 870 UA students denied in-state tuition under Prop. 300

Published: 08.02.2007

870 UA students denied in-state tuition under Prop. 300
By Howard Fischer
CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES
PHOENIX -- More than 870 students at the University of Arizona are being denied in-state tuition because they have not proven they are in this country legally.
The figures were provided by UA officials to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee to comply with Proposition 300. That measure, approved by voters in November, says only those students who are U.S. citizens or legally in this country are entitled to pay the lower tuition charged to Arizona residents.
That difference is significant: Residents pay $4,994 a year, versus $16,228 for those from out-of-state.
And the same law denies any financial aid which is subsidized at all with state taxpayer funds.
The statistics as of June 30 said there were 30,177 students signed up for classes in the fall semester.
That does not mean everyone else is either a citizen or legal U.S. resident. Nearly 4,600 of these did not have their status verified because they have not requested to pay the lower tuition charged to Arizona residents or sought financial aid subsidized with state taxpayer funds.
The percent of students who had not provided the verification to UA is higher than at Arizona State University. There, 607 were not verified out of 47,145 students enrolled for the fall semester.
Figures for Northern Arizona University are not totally comparable. That's because it looked only at new students attending the school this past spring for the first time.
It found just 16 who claimed Arizona residency which could not be verified out of 1,745 new students for the spring semester.
These are the first of what are supposed to be semi-annual reports required under the terms of Proposition 300.
Proposition 300 also denies state-subsidized child care and adult education programs to those illegally in the United States. Similar reports are required from those programs.
But the figures from community colleges around the state varied greatly, not only from the universities but also from each other, as each interpreted the new state law slightly different.
For example, Pima Community College reports 321 students not entitled to be classified as in-state students against more than 48,000 entitled to the resident tuition. But that 321 also includes students who did not seek resident status and were automatically charged the higher out-of-state fees.
And the college said 23 people who sought state-subsidized financial aid out of more than 11,800 were denied for lack of proof of legal presence.
The Maricopa Community Colleges found 874 students at all campuses combined ineligible for resident tuition versus more than 33,900 who get to pay the lower residency rate. And nearly 160 applications for financial aid were rejected out of more than 16,700 requests.
Among community colleges, Cochise College reported the highest percentage of students not entitled to in-state tuition: 279 out of 2,756 students enrolled in spring semester. But there were no reports of students being denied financial aid because of legal status.
Central Arizona College and Yavapai Community College each reported it had only one students not entitled to in-state tuition. That figure was four at Coconino Community College and 19 at Arizona Western College.
The state Department of Education reported that 1,403 people were denied adult education services out of nearly 12,000 applicants. And the Department of Economic Security said 86 applications for subsidized child care were rejected out of 13,723 requests.
Aside from Proposition 300, voters also approved three other measures aimed, at least in part, at illegal immigrants:
- Proposition 100 denies bail to people charged with certain crimes if they are in this country illegally and the proof of their guilt is great;
- Proposition 102 denies those not here legally the right to sue for punitive damages in civil suits;
- Proposition 103 declares English the state's official language and prohibits some government actions in other languages.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/194627

Use my tax dollars to fund the bridge.