Thread: CO SB 126 Would Allow In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens

Colorado's SB 126 Would Allow In-State Tuition for Illegal Immigrants

Updated: Friday, 18 Feb 2011, 4:21 PM MST
Published : Friday, 18 Feb 2011, 4:21 PM MST

DENVER - A bill giving in-state tuition to undocumented students in Colorado clears a big hurdle.

The Senate Education Committee has voted in favor of the bill.

Opponents of the proposal argue undocumented students are already a burden on tax payers who pay for their K-12 education.

"They are illegally building a better life on the backs of Colorado citizens," said a man who opposes SB 126.

Supporters of in-state tuition say Colorado will make money because more people will pay to go to college who otherwise wouldn't have.

Under the bill, illegal immigrants must graduate from a Colorado High School before they're eligible to attend a state college or university at the in-state tuition rate.

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/im ... n-02182011

http://www.denverpost.com/legislature/ci_17419028

Bill allowing in-state tuition rate for illegal immigrants in Colo. clears education panel

By Tim Hoover
The Denver Post

Posted: 02/18/2011 01:00:00 AM MST
Updated: 02/18/2011 02:21:21 AM MST


A bill allowing illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at Colorado's public colleges passed its first test Thursday, clearing a Senate committee after a nearly three-hour hearing in which one opponent asked that all non citizens be removed from the room.

"We need to have the sergeant-at- arms clear the room of everyone but the public," Stan Weekes, director of the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform, told members of the Senate Education Committee during the hearing on Senate Bill 126.

Weekes, whose organization favors greater curbs on all immigration, said the "public" did not include people who weren't citizens.

Sen. Bob Bacon, D-Fort Collins, chairman of the committee, said he wasn't going to ask staff to ascertain the immigration status of everyone in the audience in the packed room.

"We're not going to have the sergeants go through and look at their documentation," Bacon said.

The intensity of the opposition to Senate Bill 126 prompted proponents to not have illegal immigrant students testify during the hearing so that they wouldn't have to write down their names and addresses on a witness sign-up sheet.

After illegal immigrant students testified in favor of a similar bill two years ago and gave their full names and addresses, opponents tried to turn them in to immigration authorities, said Sen. Michael Johnston, D-Denver, who is co-sponsoring the bill with Sen. Angela Giron, D-Pueblo. One of the students moved to a new address to avoid scrutiny, proponents said.

Johnston and Giron are styling the bill this year as an economic-development measure, saying that an educated populace will bring in more money for the state and avoid creating a permanent underclass.

"The more education they receive," Giron said, "the more money we will receive for our state."

Under the bill, illegal immigrants who have graduated from a Colorado high school after having attended at least three years would be eligible to attend a state college or university at the in-state tuition rate.

Supporters say students affected by the measure actually would pay more than in-state tuition because they would not be getting a direct subsidy called a College Opportunity Fund scholarship from the state that now lowers the cost of tuition for resident students.

For example, a resident student who receives the subsidy would pay $5,239 per year for 30 credit hours at the University of Colorado Denver, while the student not getting the College Opportunity Fund subsidy would pay $7,099.

But opponents questioned why Colorado would be encouraging students to go to college who cannot later get a job because they have no Social Security number or work visa.

"Until they are legal in this country, I don't see what the advantage is of offering them false hope," said Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial.

Alex Cranberg, chairman of Aspect Energy and a prominent Republican supporting the bill, disagreed.

"Knowledge and learning is not false hope," Cranberg said. "It's something deserved and expected."

Proponents argued that many students brought to the country illegally as children could still obtain legal status someday and that helping them go to college would arm them with an education.

The committee approved the bill on a 5-2 party-line vote, and it now must go to the Senate Finance Committee before it can move to the full Democratic- led Senate, where its prospects for passage appear better than a similar bill that failed in 2009. However, the legislation still faces an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled House.


http://www.denverpost.com/legislature/ci_17419028