Thread: Study: Colleges profit from illegal immigrants

My local liberal rag, the Raleigh N&O, never fails to disappoint where illegal aliens are concerned:

Study: Colleges profit from illegal immigrants
Most pay out-of-state tuition, which is more costly than in-state tuition
By Kristin Collins - Staff writer
Published: Fri, Mar. 20, 2009 12:00AMModified Thu, Mar. 19, 2009 09:52PM

In a time of tight budgets, a consultant delivered a surprising message to the State Board of Community Colleges on Thursday: It's cheaper to admit illegal immigrants than to keep them out.

Based on information from the 2006-07 school year, the consultant said the state makes about $1,650 on every student who pays out-of-state tuition, which would likely include illegal immigrants.

On the other hand, the cost of verifying immigration status in order to exclude undocumented students could cost each college about $9,000 a year, the consultant told the board's policy committee.

What's aheadIt will take several months for the State Board of Community Colleges to formulate a new policy on the admission of illegal immigrants. Here's what's to come:
On April 16, consultants will present a final written report to the board's policy committee.
The committee will review the report, hold work sessions and develop a recommended policy.
The full board will settle on a final policy.
The policy will go through an administrative code review, a state-mandated process that includes public comment and could take six to 18 months.

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"I was a little surprised at how much of a revenue source it was" to admit illegal immigrants, board member Stuart Fountain, chairman of the policy committee, said after hearing the report.

Fountain also expressed concern about the cost of implementing a system to check the immigration status of every student, which would probably be necessary if the colleges instituted a permanent ban on illegal immigrants.

The preliminary report Thursday was part of the board's effort to craft a permanent policy on the admission of illegal immigrants at its 58 campuses.

Decision months away

Any new policy is sure to be controversial, and Fountain said it will take several more months of meetings and study to formulate one. A final report from the consultants is due in mid-April.

The board has been struggling with the issue since the winter of 2007, when a decision to admit illegal immigrants at all campuses -- with out-of-state tuition rates -- caused a public uproar.

In May 2008, battered by public criticism, the colleges closed their doors to undocumented students.

They made the move on the advice of the state Attorney General's Office, which said that admitting such students could be a violation of federal law.

The board has kept that policy in place even after getting word from federal officials that no law bars the admission of illegal immigrants.

Board members made that decision at the urging of Beverly Perdue, who was then a board member and a candidate for governor.

In November, the board hired the Maryland consulting firm John B. Lee and Associates, at a cost of about $75,000, to study the costs of admitting illegal immigrants and the practices of other states.

The consultants said Thursday that they looked at all the taxpayer money that goes into the colleges, and determined that the cost per student in 2006 and 2007 was $5,375. Out-of-state tuition that year was $7,024.

When they calculated the cost at each individual campus, all but one of the community colleges profited from students who pay out-of-state tuition. At the one exception, Pamlico Community College, each out-of-state student costs taxpayers $69 a year.

Consultants also looked at a national survey of colleges to determine the average cost of verifying immigration status. It was $9,400 a year at four-year institutions and $8,600 at two-year institutions.

Other states

The consultants also looked at policies in 11 states with large immigrant populations, such as Texas, Florida and California.

They found that five of those states admit illegal immigrants at in-state tuition rates, and five charge out-of-state tuition.

Only one, South Carolina, does not admit undocumented students. In that state, the schools use the federal program Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, to determine immigration status.

Kennon Briggs, executive vice president of the N.C. Community College System, asked the consultants to include the cost of using that system in their final report.

Fountain said the board is conducting a thorough and methodical study so it can create a solid policy after years of waffling on the issue.

"We have had four policy shifts in the last seven years," Fountain said. "We've got to stop the flip-flopping."

kristin.collins@newsobserver.comor 919-829-4881

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1450423.html

Oh,another article from Kristen Collins............I wrote and told her she needs to start writing for ACLU or LaRaza or possibly MALDEF......of course on the other hand, it probably makes her look good if her articles create any kind of controversy!

So it is all about profit again for someone..........But it is funny these profits never mean anything for the rest of us! Why is that?

Kristen Collins needs to sponsor an immigrant family and pay for them. Americans pay the salaries of the professors. Do not award illegal immigrants

In November, the board hired the Maryland consulting firm John B. Lee and Associates, at a cost of about $75,000, to study the costs of admitting illegal immigrants and the practices of other states.

On the other hand, the cost of verifying immigration status in order to exclude undocumented students could cost each college about $9,000 a year, the consultant told the board's policy committee.

They just spent 8 years worth of checking illegals on doing a survey. LOL They should have read ALIPAC and saved $$$$

How can allowing illegal aliens attend school be considered anything but aiding and abetting illegal activity? No matter how they spin the numbers and the claims, illegal is still illegal.

unitasone wrote:

So it is all about profit again for someone..........But it is funny these profits never mean anything for the rest of us! Why is that?

Yep, money is definitely elevated above the 'rule of law' much to frequently where illegal immigration is concerned.

Far too many folks in federal government (at all levels), local governments, schools, churches, law (immigration lawyers and courts), etc. are guilty of complicity with their fuzzy interpretations of immigration law. IMO, there are no gray areas in our written immigration laws - it's black & white. It's a crying shame that so many people are able to completely disregard and/or manipulate the law to achieve an effect that better suits their personal agenda. In most cases these personal agendas are motivated by the lust for more money (greed).

We're being hustled folks, and if we're not proactive enough, we're going to lose BIG!