North Carolina reconsidering in state tuition for illegals
from www.NewsObservor.com North Carolina
College board reconsiders illegal immigrant policy
BY KRISTIN COLLINS - STAFF WRITER
Published: Thu, Jun. 18, 2009 01:46PMModified Thu, Jun. 18, 2009 03:07PM
ASHEBORO -- State community college officials will consider re-opening their doors to illegal immigrants.
Several members of the State Board of Community Colleges said during a committee meeting at Randolph Community College today that they favored allowing illegal immigrants to attend at out-of-state tuition rates.
Undocumented students have been barred from degree programs at the state's 58 community colleges since May, 2008, while officials study the issue.
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"These young people are here with basically no fault of their own," said board member Joanne Steiner of Wake Forest. "I am highly opposed to creating a subculture of people who have no hope."
Other members agreed that they did not want to close the doors of education for any group of students.
"If a student is sufficiently motivated to pay out-of-state tuition, it should not be our role as community college educators to stand in their way," said board member Dr. Stuart Fountain, a retired dentist from Asheboro.
They asked system staff to draw up a recommendation that would allow the admission of undocumented immigrants who graduated from U.S. high schools, the same policy that the University of North Carolina system uses.
The board's policy committee will consider whether to send that recommendation to the full board at its next meeting in August. It will take the board several more months to set a final policy.
