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Lawmaker: Illegal immigrants should get in-state tuition
By Eli Stokols

January 30, 2009

DENVER -- A bill proposing to grant in-state tuition to all Colorado high school students, including illegal-immigrants, was introduced Friday by Sen. Chris Romer.

"For us to be an economic success, we need to make sure all these kids can get into college," said Romer, D-Denver. "And right now a small number of students can't go to college because their immigration status."

To be eligible for the reduced tuition, undocumented students would have to have graduated from a Colorado high school or received their GED within the past five years. They also must have been enrolled in a Colorado public or private high school for at least three years.

"I firmly believe we shouldn't punish children for the decisions of adults," Romer said. "These are exactly the kids we want to incentivize to work hard, stay in school, not drop out, and help us build a great economy for Colorado."

Romer's argument may be more likely to succeed in these trying economic times. In fact, he's already touting support from Republican businessmen around the state, including Dick Monfort, a Weld County cattleman, chairman of the University of Northern Colorado Board of Trustees and the owner of the Colorado Rockies.

"Candidly, right now I'm really struggling getting any Republican support [at the Capitol]. But I have hundreds of Republican businessman who know that this is exactly what Colorado needs," Romer said.

Of course, it's Republican lawmakers who will help determine the fate of Romer's bill.

"This policy, for all its compassion, amounts to Colorado thumbing its nose at federal immigration law," said Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield. "States can't extend in-state tuition to illegal immigrants unless they make that same offer to everyone from every state in the country. In other words, it does away with the concept of in-state tuition."

Romer said federal law mandates that school districts educate all children, regardless of immigration status, from kindergarten through high school. From there, those undocumented students struggle to go to college because many can't afford out-of-state tuition, which is $7,041. In-state tuition is $2,340.

"We need to give them a chance to sit at the table of higher education with all of our students," Romer said. "So this is not only an economic essential, it's a moral call for us to make this right for all children."

But, on simply economic terms, Mitchell believes this bill could actually cost taxpayers thousands of dollars if it gets tangled up in the legal system.

"Any time you try to do something drastic like this, that is, or may be, at odds with federal law, you're promising yourself a court headache and extensive, expensive litigation," Mitchell said.

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