COMMENTS (2)
Bunch: Immigration decision to have little effect at COA
Tuition cost to keep applications down
By Kristin Pitts


Thursday, September 24, 2009

A recent decision by the State Board of Community Colleges to admit illegal immigrants to the state’s 58 community colleges still likely won’t have much impact at College of The Albemarle, the college president predicts.

Previously, when the decision to admit was left up to individual campuses, COA opted not to allow illegal immigrants to enroll. COA President Lynne Bunch said the college did this because the board of trustees felt it was unfair to require international students to have all of their paperwork, but not require it of students who were in the U.S. illegally.

But even now following the state board’s 20-1 vote that illegal immigrants can enroll, Bunch doesn’t see much impact at COA, primarily because of the cost of tuition.

Among the new policy’s stipulations are that illegal immigrants must have graduated from a U.S. high school and pay out-of-state tuition, which would cost $15,400 over two years. The policy also states that illegal immigrants will not qualify for financial aid or take the place of a student who resides in the U.S. legally.

For Bunch, the illegal immigration issue is a frustrating one. The community college president, who’s stepping down next spring, has seen the subject debated several times — since 2001 the policy has changed four times. She wishes that COA’s efforts could be put into other projects.

“We turned students away this fall and we’re spending a lot of time and effort on this issue, which for our school, in the long run doesn’t amount to much because (illegal immigrants) don’t have that kind of money,â€