Thread: UTAH Poll: IAs should pay higher college tuition

Poll: Illegal immigrants should pay higher college tuition
January 16th, 2008 @ 5:22pm

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH (AP) -- A poll found a majority of Utahns oppose cheaper in-state college tuition for illegal immigrants.

Fifty percent said they were strongly opposed, and 13 percent said they were somewhat opposed, according to a survey for the Deseret Morning News and KSL-TV.

"It's perhaps a reflection of the national frustration we see on the whole issue of immigration," said Karen Crompton, co-chairwoman of the Utahns for the American Dream Coalition, which supports keeping the 2002 law in place.

"We have students who for all intents and purposes have grown up here and consider themselves to be Americans," Crompton said.

Utah lawmakers failed in an attempt to repeal the tuition policy last year. The law says people who aren't born in the U.S. but graduate from Utah high schools are eligible for in-state rates. It affected less than 200 people in 2007.

There is a difference of thousands of dollars between college students charged in-state rates and students who pay as non-residents.

The poll found 33 percent strongly favored or somewhat favored giving illegal immigrants who graduate from Utah schools the lower rate. Five percent didn't know.

The poll of 413 people was conducted Jan. 8-10 and had an error margin of 5 percentage points.

Gov. Jon Huntsman supports keeping the tuition law in place.

"The various criteria he's going to use would be the rule of law and safety of our citizens, economic development and improving the human condition," spokeswoman Lisa Roskelley said when asked if Huntsman would sign a repeal.

Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, said Utah lawmakers should wait to see what the next president wants to do before passing bills on illegal immigration. He wants a state task force to study the issue.
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Information from: Deseret Morning News
http://v2.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=2501921

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