Educate all, says UALR chief He calls for change in tuition policy to aid illegal aliens

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock)
October 16, 2009 Friday
BY GINNY LAROE

Greater access to higher education for immigrants, including allowing certain illegal aliens to pay the cheaper in-state tuition rates, is in the best interest of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the state, the school's chancellor said during a forum Thursday.

Joel Anderson, who spoke on a panel as part of Hispanic Heritage Month, said changing laws so illegal aliens who have graduated from Arkansas high schools and who have spent a number of years in the state can become eligible for in-state tuition is "simply the right thing to do." "The more graduates we have, the better off we'll be," Anderson said.

The practice of charging illegal aliens the more expensive nonresident tuition is "cutting off our noses to spite our face," he said.

Anderson was joined on the panel by UALR sociology professor Terry Trevino-Richard, El Latino editor Michel Leidermann and Oscar Mora with the Mexican Consulate in Little Rock.

Mora said 11 states allow illegal aliens to pay in-state tuition rates under certain circumstances.

In Arkansas, the University of Central Arkansas and Henderson State University have had policies that did not prohibit illegal aliens from paying in-state tuition if they lived in a residence hall.

Federal law prohibits illegal aliens from obtaining postsecondary education benefits on the basis of residency unless those same benefits are offered to all U.S. citizens. Policies at UCA and Henderson did not violate that law because their waivers apply to all U.S. citizens. UCA's was based solely on residency; Henderson's was based primarily on residency.

UCA President Allen Meadors has said he would ask the board of trustees if it wants to revise a policy giving out-of-state tuition waivers to anyone living in campus housing so that illegal aliens would be excluded.

And Henderson President Charles Welch has said his school is revising the application form for its housingrelated out-of-state tuition waivers to include "a clear statement indicating that illegal residents are not eligible." Welch has said Henderson did not allow any illegal aliens to receive the waivers, and Meadors said UCA was unaware of any who had benefited from its policy.

During the panel discussion Thursday, Mora of the Mexican Consulate said it's hard to reconcile the seemingly conflicting policies of educating all children, regardless of immigration status, from kindergarten through 12th grade and then treating illegal aliens, in the state for years, differently at the college level.

"You block access to higher education," he said.

Anderson said one way to help make higher education more accessible to immigrants - both legal and illegal - is to help raise private donation money for scholarships, so money isn't the hurdle. But he said that's not a practical solution since fundraising is difficult for any cause.

He said there are 351 students classified as Hispanic enrolled in UALR this fall, and said he wished there were more.

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