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College opens doors to illegal immigrants

4-27-05

By Marta Hummel, Staff Writer
News & Record



WINSTON-SALEM -- Forsyth Tech will allow illegal immigrants to study in degree programs, the school announced Tuesday.

The 12-member board of trustees voted unanimously last week to approve the policy change, said Gary Green, the president of Forsyth Tech. Previously, undocumented residents could attend classes but could not work toward a diploma.

The change comes amid controversy over whether to approve a bill to allow in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. Currently, those students are considered out of state and must pay higher fees.

"By opening up the doors for young people who have grown up here, we're reaffirming the principals of community colleges -- of providing access and opportunity for everyone in the community," Green said.

Last August the N.C. Community College System changed a rule to allow each community college to decide whether it wanted to admit undocumented residents.

In an interview last month the head of GTCC, Don Cameron, said the college's board had been mulling making a change prior to the start of the 2005-06 school year. Cameron could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

In November the UNC system changed its policy, allowing each of its 16 universities to decide whether to enroll undocumented immigrants.

One local advocate called Forsyth's decision a "step in the right direction."

"I encourage us to embrace opportunities for all of our youth," said Debby Kelly, the director of a local nonprofit, Centro de Accion Latino, that tutors students and counsels new immigrants on how to integrate into the community. She hopes GTCC will soon follow suit.

Forsyth's new rules say that illegal immigrant students must have a diploma from a North Carolina high school and cannot receive state or federal aid.

The school can also limit enrollment in classes such as nursing because the state does not grant professional licenses to undocumented residents.

No numbers exist for the prevalence of illegal immigrants in the local high school systems because the schools do not ask. But it is possible to track the number of students, the vast majority of whom are Latino, in English as Second Language classes.

In Guilford County, the number of Latino students in ESL classes has more than doubled to about 2,900 in the 2004-05 school year from 2002-03. Many of these students are not legal, observers say.

Without access to higher education, economists say they will be doomed to a permanent underclass like others who do not graduate from high school or work toward higher degrees.




Contact Marta Hummel at 373-7070 or mhummel@news-record.com