Change N.C. law
Thursday, November 29th, 2007
By Chris Fitzsimon
Kids of immigrants should qualify for in-state tuition
Don’t get too revved-up about news that North Carolina’s community colleges will begin admitting illegal immigrants. That new policy won’t have much of a practical effect. Unless a child or family has $7,465 a year to pay out-of-state tuition rates, for these students the door to college will remain closed.
The real issue is this: The state legislature needs to change the law so that kids brought to this country illegally through no fault of their own qualify for in-state tuition at North Carolina’s universities and community colleges.
A lawyer for the state community college system said state regulations require the schools to admit illegal immigrants who meet the schools’ basic requirements of being a high school graduate or an adult in need of skills training. He ordered the 58 campuses to admit them, overturning a policy of letting each school set its own rules for handling undocumented applicants.
Clarifying the policy may make it easier for businesses to use community colleges to do employee training. It may also make it less of a hassle for individuals who need a specific skill to take a course. But it will do nothing to help young people who are undocumented, have lived here for years, graduated from high school and want a college education. The out-of-state tuition expense effectively excludes children of illegal immigrants. That serves no useful purpose and will harm the state in the long run. more…
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