UA tuition policies touch on immigration
By: Jack Willems
Posted: 9/19/08

Illegal immigrants are allowed admission into the University of Arkansas, but they cannot receive in-state tuition or scholarships paid for by state funds, said Karen Hodges, interim director of admissions.

"Why would we not want to admit students to get an education?" Hodges asked.

Last week, Dustin McDaniel, Arkansas attorney general, issued the legal opinion that Arkansas universities might enroll illegal immigrants as students, but he did not say they could not prohibit such students from attending.

Officials from other state universities might make their own policies toward admitting illegal immigrants, McDaniel said.

The UA policy is to allow such students to attend, but a directive from the Department of Higher Education prohibits such students from receiving in-state tuition, Hodges said.

While illegal immigrants are allowed to pay for their education with private scholarships, they cannot receive financial aid from the government, she said. The university typically asks for a Social Security number when students apply, and if they do not receive it, the Department of Admissions will send the applicant a letter warning they will be classified as a nonresident if they cannot prove citizenship, Hodges said.

The university currently has 21 students enrolled who cannot provide a Social Security number, Hodges said.

"The state has already put an investment in this student if he or she went to high school here," said Rafael Arciga, president for the UA chapter for the League of United Latin American Citizens. "When you have a student who is committed and he or she has hopes of getting an education to help his or her family and community, if you start putting up barriers it only discourages them."

The state has the right to deny illegal immigrants state-funded scholarships, but if a student has graduated from high school in this state, he or she should be eligible for in-state tuition, Arciga said.

Not many such students will be able to afford out-of-state tuition because such a student cannot get a job or a driver's license, he said.

"It should be the same criteria for all people applying for admittance," Arciga said. "If not, the investment the state put into that student in high school will be lost."

Arciga himself came into the country illegally in 2000, he said. His father came to the U.S. shortly after Arciga was born to find more opportunity for his family, and he wanted his family to join him, he said.

Arciga applied for legal residency, but it was taking too long, he said. When he applied for college, Arciga had to pay for it with private scholarships, and that was when he was eligible for in-state tuition, he said.

"It was frustrating because I knew I had the grades, but I could not get a job or drive a car," Arciga said. "I almost believed it was impossible for someone without a Social Security number to get an education."

Arciga became a legal resident in 2006, and his father is now a U.S. citizen, as well, he said.

Most students who are illegal immigrants come to this country because their parents came to this country, not because they are looking for an education, he said.

The immigration system in the U.S. is broken because the government is not regulating entry into the country and the process of getting a permit to legally immigrate takes too long, Arciga said.

"If a person cannot sustain his family working in his home country, he will come to the U.S. He is not going to wait," Arciga said.

Illegal immigrants should not be allowed in-state tuition when people out of state are not allowed in-state tuition, said Bridget Spencer, a freshman communication major from Marietta, Ga.

Any student should be able to get in-state tuition and receive financial aid regardless of his or her legal status, said David Pritchard, a senior communication major.

"It is wrong," said Darren Tippens, a freshman electrical engineering major. "It should not be tolerated. They are illegal immigrants, and I'm poor and I can't get anything. If I find an illegal immigrant who gets state funds, I am putting my foot down."
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