UNC lacks Latino funds
UNC-Chapel Hill's Scholars' Latino Initiative can help its high school participants get into college, but it can't help them pay their way. Undocumented immigrants, who comprise 50 percent of the students mentored through SLI, currently are required to pay out-of-state tuition and are not eligible for financial aid. According to UNC-system policy, undocumented immigrants are not eligible for merit- or need-based university, state or federal financial aid and must pay out-of-state tuition. The system is considering whether to push for a change in policy that would allow undocumented immigrants to enroll with in-state tuition, but such a change would be controversial - the N.C. General Assembly considered a bill last session that would have forbidden such a policy. SLI founder and faculty sponsor Peter Kaufman, a UNC religious studies professor, will be leaving to take a post at the University of Richmond, which has agreed that any SLI high school graduates will be eligible for university financial aid, regardless of citizenship. "Somebody's got to take a step, and the University of Richmond was bold enough to do it," Kaufman said, adding that he hopes to expand SLI to Richmond and to continue working with any SLI graduates that come there. Richmond's private status gives it greater flexibility on the issue, said Joseph Kent, interim provost. "We wanted to be supportive of any initiative that provides support for any underrepresented group on our campus and put those students in a place where they can learn." That same degree of financial support is difficult to achieve at UNC, given policy that prohibits private or public funding for SLI scholarships. The program only receives funding for its operating costs, said Ronald Bilbao, a UNC sophomore and SLI volunteer. To alleviate its funding crunch, the program is competing for a $50,000 grant from Parade magazine that would help fund scholarships for undocumented SLI students. The four charities in the global causes category of the competition with the most $10 online donations will win the grant. SLI, which is currently ranked in the top 10, has until noon today to collect donations. "SLI doesn't serve a purpose if we get (the students) into college and they can't go," Bilbao said. UNC sophomore Lauren Teegarden, SLI's director of development, said the state is losing out. "By not allowing these kids the funding to achieve higher education in North Carolina, we're losing what could be an impactful and important resource." SLI is not actively lobbying UNC to change its policy, but the group wants to raise awareness. Kaufman said the UNC administration has done all it can within the parameters of state law to help increase access for disadvantaged populations. UNC aims to make college accessible to low-income students through the Carolina Covenant, but the program cannot offer funding to undocumented immigrants. "We've made that commitment to accessibility and affordability to everyone. We were the first ones to say that," said Bilbao, a Carolina Covenant scholar. "Now the issue's become: What about these undocumented students?" In Virginia all public and private universities decide for themselves how to handle tuition for undocumented students. Four of the 15 public universities do not check applicants' citizenship status. Citizenship status is a question on the UNC freshman application. Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.