Congress Takes Up Competing Bills On In-state Tuition For Illegal Immigrants

By Charles Dervarics

The U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate are on a collision course this summer over a plan that would penalize public colleges that offer in-state tuition to illegal immigrants.

Such colleges would face tighter scrutiny under a bill approved by a powerful House committee in June. These public colleges and universities could lose significant federal funding, particularly if they use federal dollars to support these policies.

Ten states currently provide in-state tuition breaks at public colleges, and others are considering similar legislation, says the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. But the policies continue to face criticism from those who want to toughen federal laws against illegal immigrants.

“These statutes must be repealed because they violate federal law and defy common sense,” says Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, chief sponsor of the plan, which the House Appropriations Committee successfully added to Congress’ 2007 education funding bill.

Under his proposal, Culberson says states could offer discounted rates to undocumented students only if they also offer the same lower rate to legal U.S. residents from all 50 states. Texas is among the 10 states that provide in-state rates to illegal immigrants.

But critics called the amendment misguided. “It is a mean-spirited attack on states that are actually moving forward and struggling with this issue,” says Melissa Lazarin, senior policy analyst for education reform, at the National Council of La Raza in Washington, D.C.

“People in these states want to see young people going to college whether they are undocumented or not,” she says. Their higher education aspirations “benefit the state and its residents.”

Many of the state laws skirt the immigration issue by using graduation from an in-state high school as the main criteria for discounted tuition. Some laws also require an individual to live in the state for two to three years, Lazarin says, but few focus on the issue of legal residency.