Thread: Missouri appeals court says it's OK to charge undocumented student highest college tu

Missouri appeals court says it's OK to charge undocumented student highest college tuition

By Ashley Jost St. Louis Post-Dispatch
10 hrs ago

ST. LOUIS • A Missouri appeals court has affirmed that it was right for St. Louis Community College to charge an undocumented student international tuition under a Missouri law that the Legislature changed in 2015.

The ruling came last week in the case filed in 2016.

The student, identified as “Jane Doe,” enrolled at St. Louis Community College before the fall of 2015, expecting to pay $103 per credit hour as a student who lives in the community college district in St. Louis County. According to the ruling, the student has lived in St. Louis County since fourth grade.

A few weeks later, she received a notice that she would instead be charged the international tuition rate of $215 per credit hour.

She filed a petition seeking to reverse that decision, which stemmed from a change to state law that summer that college leaders said mandated they charge so-called DACA students the highest tuition rate — either the out-of-state or international rate.

DACA students, or those who are part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, came to the U.S. as young children and are undocumented through no fault of their own.

Before the rule change in 2015, DACA students in Missouri were eligible to receive scholarships. Those who graduated from high school had the added benefit of paying in-state tuition once enrolled in a state college.

A lawmaker who backed the change argued it was an issue of fairness, saying students who are undocumented shouldn’t have the same benefits as legal residents.

At the time, several college leaders publicly disagreed.

Lawsuits like the one filed by the St. Louis Community College student popped up across the state during the last few years.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri’s legal director Tony Rothert, who represents Jane Doe in this case, said he and his client are disappointed by the ruling. They’re seeking other avenues to address the language change to the law from 2015, including whether it’s something the Missouri Coordinating Board of Higher Education can address.

A spokesperson for the state Department of Higher Education said “neither the department nor the (coordinating board) is involved in conversations about tuition rates for DACA students.”

Rothert said he’s in favor of the dissenting opinion, filed by Judge Lisa S. Van Amburg, which argues this problem in Missouri is fallout from a flawed federal immigration system.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/c...7e052fe6d.html

That's exactly as it should be! No matter if they are DACA approved, they still ARE NOT legal citizens!