Should states' tuition rules allow some illegal immigrants to pay the same rates as legal residents?
The U.S. Supreme Court recently allowed that practice -- followed in Texas and a growing smattering of other states -- to continue.But debate over whether it should continue persists.The justices turned down a petition to review a California Supreme Court ruling that the state's tuition break doesn't conflict with federal law because U.S. citizens as well as illegal immigrants can get the lower rates by meeting graduation requirements.Texas had this discussion in 2001, when the Legislature passed and Gov. Rick Perry signed the current tuition law.A half-dozen bills to reverse course got nowhere during this year's regular legislative session -- good news, considering some of the ill-advised damage lawmakers have done.Texas offers a number of tuition discounts. But the one that causes the most consternation allows students to qualify for lower rates if they lived in the state three years until high school graduation and got a diploma or the equivalent, no matter where their parents live.Students who qualify under this provision might have graduated but their families left the state. Or they might have been raised by grandparents in Texas while their divorced parents lived elsewhere. They might even have been boarding school graduates.Students who otherwise qualify but aren't U.S. citizens or legal residents can get in-state rates after submitting an affidavit saying they'll apply to become legal residents as soon as they're eligible.About 14,300 students filed those affidavits from summer 2008 through the 2008-09 school year, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. That amounted to less than 1 percent of the 1.4 million students enrolled in state colleges and universities. The number of legal residents who get lower tuition under this law wasn't available.But letting even illegal immigrant students qualify for resident rates is a defensible policy. It makes college more affordable to students who have demonstrated the commitment to finish high school and pursue higher education in order to improve their prospects for decent employment and a prosperous future. Those are positive, responsible behaviors that Texans should want to encourage for their overall benefit to the state.It also assists students who face a conundrum not of their making: They were brought to the U.S. as children, consider it home and would legalize their status if only they could. But federal law currently doesn't let them.It's undeniable there's a cost, at a time when the state is cutting higher ed funding. Nonresident tuition at the University of Texas, for instance, exceeds in-state by $10,878 per semester for a liberal arts major. At UT Arlington, a nonresident would pay $4,695 more per semester for a 15-hour load.But of the students who filed affidavits, only 3,744 enrolled at four-year universities in 2008-09; more than 10,500 attended community, state and technical colleges, the Coordinating Board reported.At Tarrant County College, in-county students pay $50 per semester hour; out-of-staters and nonresident aliens pay $165.Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott in 2009 ruled that the state law doesn't violate the U.S. Constitution's equal protection guarantees. He called the rules "reasonable requirements that serve Texas' legitimate or substantial interest" in making sure only bona fide residents who get Texas diplomas can get in-state tuition.Still, a suit challenging Texas' law is pending in a Houston court. Other cases are likely: USA Today reported that soon 13 states will allow illegal immigrants to qualify for in-state tuition, while five specifically bar it.A Supreme Court ruling is only a matter of time.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
