EDITORIALS
Change N.C. law
Kids of immigrants should qualify for in-state tuition

Don't get too revved-up about news that North Carolina's community colleges will begin admitting illegal immigrants. That new policy won't have much of a practical effect. Unless a child or family has $7,465 a year to pay out-of-state tuition rates, for these students the door to college will remain closed.

The real issue is this: The state legislature needs to change the law so that kids brought to this country illegally through no fault of their own qualify for in-state tuition at North Carolina's universities and community colleges.

A lawyer for the state community college system said state regulations require the schools to admit illegal immigrants who meet the schools' basic requirements of being a high school graduate or an adult in need of skills training. He ordered the 58 campuses to admit them, overturning a policy of letting each school set its own rules for handling undocumented applicants.

Clarifying the policy may make it easier for businesses to use community colleges to do employee training. It may also make it less of a hassle for individuals who need a specific skill to take a course. But it will do nothing to help young people who are undocumented, have lived here for years, graduated from high school and want a college education. The out-of-state tuition expense effectively excludes children of illegal immigrants. That serves no useful purpose and will harm the state in the long run.

How? Rising education levels had much to do with our state's economic progress in the last century. That's a result of North Carolina's tradition of extending educational opportunities to every resident. That economic strategy will suffer a setback if the state harbors an underclass that's denied an opportunity for education.

Besides, undocumented students and their parents here pay taxes on their earnings that help support North Carolina's higher education systems. It makes sense that if students attend and graduate from these institutions, they'll find work paying better wages -- and pay more taxes.

This isn't a question of rewarding lawbreakers. These young people are not responsible for their parents' mistakes. It is a question of practicality. The state needs all the ambitious graduates our schools can produce.

Clarifying the admissions policy is helpful. But influential leaders such as University of North Carolina system President Erskine Bowles can do more. The state's colleges and universities ought to lead the effort to convince state lawmakers that undocumented immigrants who graduate from North Carolina high schools should qualify for in-state tuition. That would be a step with real impact.
http://www.charlotte.com/opinion/story/383071.html

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