North Carolina Community Colleges to Accept Undocumented Immigrants

by Alison Leithner · 2010-04-01 10:33:00 UTC
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The North Carolina State Board of Community Colleges voted on March 19th to allow enrollment of students who are undocumented immigrants. This vote comes after months of questions surrounding the Board's policy on accepting undocumented immigrants as full time students.

The new rule, however, contains certain restrictions. Undocumented immigrant students will be required to have graduated from a U.S. high school, to pay out-of-state tuition (roughly $7,700 yearly), to refuse any state or federal financial aid, and to accept being dropped from a class if a student with legal status wants in.

Friday's vote was one more chapter in a complicated story of North Carolina's community colleges and undocumented immigrants. In November 2007, the Office of the Attorney General mandated that all 58 North Carolina Community Colleges accept undocumented immigrants into their schools. This mandate was then repealed in May of 2008. In September 2009, the state Board decided to reinstate the policy but with the restrictions listed above. Now that the Board has approved the decision, the new rule will be passed onto the Rules Review Commission for final approval. If the Commission receives 10 written objections, they will pass the rule on to the General Assembly for a vote. Many in North Carolina would not be surprised if the new rule landed in the hands of the legislature.

Needless to say, this remains a controversial issue. Those who support allowing undocumented immigrants to attend community college say that the conditions of the rule are unfair, especially requiring these students to pay out-of-state costs, which are approximately five times the costs of in-state students. Those who oppose the decision contend that this is just the first step towards unfair federal reforms for illegal immigration.

The idea of allowing children who have been raised in the U.S. (remember a provision of this rule is that the child have graduated from a U.S. high school) is not bad one. Don't these kids deserve a chance to become college graduates and make an even more positive impact on our society? Consider this: because of this new rule, these students would already be making a positive impact on our economy. A recent study by JLB Associates revealed that community colleges could actually profit from accepting undocumented immigrants who pay out-of-state tuition. In a time of budget crisis where faculty and staff are losing their jobs, isn't this purely economic advantage one almost anyone could support?

Photo Credit: takomabibelot

Alison Leithner got her M.A. at American University and teaches English as a Second Language to adults and university students.
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