Thread: Undocumented students may qualify for in-state tuition at R.

Undocumented students may qualify for in-state tuition at R.I. public colleges


10:53 AM EDT on Tuesday, September 20, 2011

By Gina Macris

Journal Staff Writer

WARWICK — Beginning in the fall of 2012, undocumented high school graduates who have lived in Rhode Island at least three years would be able to pay resident rates for tuition at the state’s three public colleges, according to a policy change likely to win approval from the Board of Governors for Higher Education.

The change, scheduled for a vote of the full board on Sept. 26, would accomplish a goal that Latino legislators and advocates have been unable to enact in a sustained anti-immigrant climate.

And, until Governor Chafee took office in January, this same group couldn’t get the Board of Governors to consider taking action.

Research by the National Immigration Law Center indicates there is no public cost to extending in-state tuition rates to undocumented students because they could not otherwise afford to pursue their education. Rather, the in-state tuition break tends to add to institutions’ general revenue, according to the center.


Out-of-state students pay more than double the rates of residents to attend the University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College or the Community College of Rhode Island.

Tuition and mandatory fees at URI, for example, are $27,454 for out-of-state residents for the 2011-2012 academic year, while Rhode Islanders are paying $11,366.

Twelve states have passed laws enabling undocumented students to take advantage of residents’ rates for college tuition, but Rhode Island would be the first one to take that step as a matter of policy.

“These are Rhode Islanders for all purposes, except for immigration status,â€

well why the hell did you ask us way if you going to let them have it
any way
we say so what the hell . just roll out the red carpet
& the hell with our American Kids
SB
NO amnesty