Bill Seeks to Deprive Undocumented Students of In-State Tuition

Anti-immigrant forces aren't confining themselves to the state-by-state approach in hiking up tuition prices for undocumented immigrant students -- a new bill has been introduced in the House that would bar universities from providing in-state tuition rates to these seekers of higher learning.

Reps. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) and Brian Bilbray (R-CA) introduced what they've dubbed the "Fairness to American Students Act" with support from hate group FAIR and law professor Kris Kobach, who recently lost a court attempt to overturn in-state tuition in his and Tiahrt's fair state of Kansas. Kobach recently decided to try the court-based approach again in Nebraska, but it seems that anti-immigrant forces are trying to get their bases covered by fighting the nativist fight on a number of fronts.

The bill would deprive states of the ability to make their own decision to provide in-state tuition based on factors other than being a U.S. citizen who resides in-state. The alternative requirements, usually along the lines of having attending high school in-state, actually helps more students who are American citizens or legal residents -- for instance, students whose parents move out-of-state after high school, which can suddenly make their plan to attend public state college unaffordable.

Of course, the bill is couched in terms of helping low-income American citizens and legal residents find college affordable. And yes, it's a serious problem that state universities, which are supposed to provide a quality education to those who can't afford the cost of private higher education, are outside many students budgets. But the problem in Nebraska, where Kobach is focusing his current court case, isn't the mere 43 undocumented students who receive in-state tuition. Trying to deprive them of the ability to continue their education is more mean-spirited nativism than anything else.

As Megan reported yesterday on the U.S. Poverty blog, state universities providing merit scholarships to attract better-performing students to boost their rankings -- even if they're wealthy enough not to need the financial aid -- is one of the major factors shrinking the pot of need-based aid for the students who can't attend college without help. So if Tiahrt and Bilbray were really worried about American students, and not just caught up in punishing undocumented immigrant youth, and they're okay with infringing on state's ability to decide how tuition should be spent, they could focus on changing this practice.

At rancorous as the immigration debate can be, I still can't help being shocked when nativist forces go after, well, children. I don't know about you, but when I was a kid, if my parents said we were moving, we were moving. I didn't understand what my legal status was, or what it meant to cross a border. Since I was born in the U.S.A. (in the state that nurtured Bruce Springsteen), and I've lived here all my life, I'm lucky enough not to have to fret about that. For other hard-working students, the undocumented status they carry, through no fault of their own, can destroy their hope and dreams for the future. And 17 -- the age I was when I start college, still a minor -- is very, very young to have all that taken away from you.

If states believe that those students who went through their local system, graduated, and got accepted into a state university should be given the opportunity to attend through need-based aid, I applaud them, and they should retain the right to make that decision.

Photo credit: BdwayDiva1