Colorado Democrats are seeking to pass a bill to lower tuition rates for undocumented immigrants who reside here, says Yahoo! News. In the past, they’ve had to pay three times the resident rate, the same as out-of-state residents. Proponents want find an equitable and fair way for undocumented immigrants who grew up here to pursue higher education because they believe all students in Colorado deserve a fair shot at higher education. But the bill brings up more questions than answers. An undocumented immigrant’s status is fluid depending on individual circumstances, and whether there are immediate family members who are American citizens either by birth or naturalization. There are no laws prohibiting secondary schools from admitting undocumented students, and every school has its own admission policies…
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Florida students of undocumented immigrants sue for in-state tuition
College students in Florida who were born in America to undocumented immigrants say they’re getting financially shafted by the state, the Huffington Post reports. A class-action lawsuit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center on behalf of the students, claims that these students are unfairly forced to pay out-of-state tuition, because their parents are undocumented. The suit notes that these students are U.S. Citizens.
“These policies attack our most fundamental American values by punishing children for the actions of their parents,” Jerri Katzerman, director of educational advocacy for the SPLC said in a news release. “It’s an unconscionable attack on students from immigrant families that more than triples the cost of a college education.”
Rhode Island offers lower tuition to immigrants
Rhode Island next year will begin allowing illegal immigrants to pay lower in-state college tuition, the 13th state to allow some form of lower tuition for undocumented immigrants, Reuters reports. The Board of Governors for Higher Education approved the measure at a meeting late Monday after the state legislature failed to take action for six years. Governor Lincoln Chafee, an Independent, had urged the board to adopt the measure, which takes effect in September 2012, said board spokesman Michael Trainor…
…Read MoreSupreme Court rejects illegal immigrants’ tuition case
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge to a California law that gives illegal immigrants the same in-state college tuition rates as legal state residents, another contentious issue in the nation’s immigration policy debate, Reuters reports. The justices refused to hear an appeal by group of out-of-state U.S. citizens after the California Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law and dismissed their lawsuit…
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