ATLANTA – The state Board of Regents voted Wednesday to tighten policies governing illegal immigrant applicants to Georgia colleges and universities, acting on complaints that the university system has been swamped by undocumented students.
The regents approved the stricter policy over the protests of a coalition of immigrant rights activists urging that it be rejected.
Under the new policies, to take effect with the fall 2011 semester, University System of Georgia schools will be barred from accepting undocumented immigrant applicants if the school has rejected any academically qualified applicants in the two most recent academic years.
That includes five Georgia colleges and universities: the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, Medical College of Georgia, and Georgia College & State University.
The regents voted on four recommended new policies at their meeting Wednesday after a committee investigated complaints that Georgia taxpayers were subsidizing the education of undocumented students through in-state tuition and that undocumented students were taking seats from academically qualified Georgians. There was little discussion and little opposition to the recommendations.
That committee reported that, out of a preliminary fall 2010 student enrollment of 310,361 students, 501 are in the country illegally or have incomplete documentation or 182 new students and 319 returning students. All are paying out-of-state tuition.
Under the new rules, applicants must also state on the application whether they are entitled, if admitted, to pay in-state tuition. Even before the vote, undocumented immigrants, even those who reside in Georgia, were not eligible for in-state tuition.
