http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-769162.html

College access for kids of illegal immigrants pushed


BY JAMIE SCHUMAN : The Herald-Sun
jschuman@heraldsun.com
Sep 12, 2006 : 6:10 pm ET

CHAPEL HILL -- Former North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt urged some of the nation's top higher-education experts Tuesday to take the lead in ensuring that college is affordable for children of illegal immigrants.

Those children should be able to pay in-state, and not nonresident, tuition at public universities in the state where they live and have attended some K-12 school, Hunt said at "The Politics of Inclusion: Higher Education at a Crossroads," a conference that UNC is hosting.

At the conference, more than 100 educators and policy-makers are examining why minority and low-income students are less likely to go to college than others, and are seeking ways to reverse the trend.

Although it may be risky for college administrators to speak out about increasing access for illegal immigrants, the public will listen to what those leaders have to say, Hunt said.

"I think educators ought to lead this, particularly in North Carolina, where we have this great tradition," he said.

In North Carolina, efforts to let the state's illegal immigrants attend public universities at the resident rate failed last year. But in 10 other states, laws have passed allowing the practice.

States should pass such laws because it is morally right to do so, Hunt said.

"These children are our children," he pointed out. "They're children of God. They ought to be treated right."

Making college more affordable for the growing illegal immigrant population also will help the nation get the educated work force it needs to compete in a global economy, Hunt said.

The idea that it is an economic imperative to increase access to higher education for low-income and minority groups has been a constant theme at the four-day conference, which ends today at the Carolina Inn.

Panelists spent much of Tuesday discussing pressing challenges to inclusion. Today, financial aid officers will have a workshop on putting ideas they have learned into practice.

Hunt's address was part of a panel on "Present Challenges that Threaten the Goals of College Access and Inclusion: Middle-Class Resentment and Resistance."

Charles Clotfelter, a professor of public policy at Duke University, said that middle class families feel squeezed -- and, perhaps, resentful of aid programs aimed at poor students -- because of the rising costs of college.

"Not surprisingly, the middle class might be expected to react and resist," Clotfelter said.

Still, middle class families are not squeezed as badly as low income families on college costs, he said.

At another panel on Tuesday, lawyers discussed a second threat to inclusion: possible changes to laws on affirmative action.

Theodore Shaw, director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, told the audience of education experts not to roll over at the attempts of "right-wing ideologues" to curb programs that promote access for minorities.

"We've got to fight these folks, so stand up with us," Shaw said.

Rocco Testani, who leads an education and civil rights group at the law firm of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP, said universities need to look closely at current laws when crafting policy on racial preference. Officials should structure programs and prepare evidence that are defensible in court, Testani said.