Regents' Bill to Aid Illegal Aliens

The bill states that all students who attend high school for at least three years in California and graduate are eligible for in-state tuition at UC-system schools -- including the children of illegal immigrants who formerly had to pay out-of-state tuition rates.

The law also allows students who meet the requirements but move out of the state after high school graduation to pay in-state tuition.

To qualify for the lower tuition rates, these students must sign an affidavit pledging they will apply for permanent residency as soon as they are eligible.

Ricardo Lara, press secretary for Assemblyman Marco Antonio Firebaugh, the author of the bill, said the bill focuses on the children of illegal immigrants.

"An undocumented student who went to high school for three years and actually graduated from a California high school would qualify for the waiver," he said.

Michael Reese, UC-system assistant vice president of strategic communications said the change was rubber-stamped because it is already state law. California Gov. Gray Davis signed the legislation into law in October.

Reese said the board also voted in favor of the change to make UC-system policies consistent with those of community colleges and California State University system. The UC system, which is made up of 9 schools, is the larger of the two state university systems.

"We don't make state policy; we align ourselves with state policy," Reese said. "We didn't pioneer this. We're just following the state's lead."

Reese also said the state legislature must first pass additional legislation to protect the UC system from lawsuits before the bill takes effect.

A similar bill designed to fund a study examining whether illegal immigrants in North Carolina should be charged in-state tuition was considered by the N.C. General Assembly this summer.

The Study Tuition Status/Certain Immigrant Students Bill was introduced in the N.C. Senate in April but never made it out of committee.

Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange, one of the bill's sponsors, said she supported the bill because qualified students should not be refused higher education because of financial disadvantages.

"We should not shut a whole class of people out of education," she said. "These are bona fide students, and they shouldn't be denied an education."

Kinnaird cited a specific incident in which a recent valedictorian at an N.C. high school could not go to college because her parents were illegal immigrants and they could not afford tuition.

Gretchen Bataille, UNC-system senior vice president for academic affairs, said she does not think children should be punished because their parents do not have proper documentation.

She added that she thinks the state should provide education to any student who plans to become part of the N.C. work force.

But Bataille said that because the UNC system expects an additional 50,000 applicants in the next 10 years, it is unfair to deny legal residents the opportunity for higher education.

She said the UNC-system Board of Governors has yet to address this subject.

Bataille added that because the Hispanic population is growing faster in North Carolina than in any other state, the BOG will eventually consider it. "It's going to become an issue."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.