NASHVILLE (AP) – A proposal to make Tennessee’s public colleges and universities more carefully screen out illegal immigrants has been delayed in the House after higher education officials raised concerns about the cost of heightened enforcement.

Rep. Stacey Campfield, a Knoxville Republican and sponsor of the measure, said officials aren’t doing enough to determine whether students are U.S. citizens.

Higher education officials currently rely on students to accurately fill out forms that ask for their Social Security numbers, home addresses and which high schools they graduated from.

University of Tennessee lobbyist Anthony Haynes told the House Higher Education Subcommittee it would cost more than $500,000 a year for each school to more rigorously vet students’ immigration status.

Haynes suggested it would be unfair to ask schools to bear those increased costs while higher education faces deep budget cuts and layoffs.

“Please, when we’re seeing hundreds of people in higher education who will probably lose their jobs, don’t give us one more job,â€