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Sunday, September 04, 2011

Ind. Law - "New law means students in country illegally now have to pay out-of-state tuition"

Andrew Scoggin of the Indianapolis Star had a long, well-worth reading story August 31st - some quotes:

House Bill 1402 and Senate Bill 590, adopted in the last General Assembly, take away in-state tuition eligibility from students "not lawfully present" in the country; the Senate bill also eliminated any state or local aid or scholarships for these students.

The laws are necessary, supporters say, because undocumented students divert resources from legal residents.

With college classes starting up this week across Indiana, it's now adjustment time not only for undocumented students such as Perez, but for the universities as well. For some state colleges -- particularly Indiana University and Ivy Tech Community College, which previously allowed undocumented students to pay in-state tuition -- it means making changes to their policies.

For undocumented students, it means figuring out a way to pay tuition rates significantly higher than what they paid last year.

"Considering that a lot of these kids are first-generation college kids, even paying in-state tuition is a problem for some," said IU-Bloomington spokesman Mark Land. "These kids are being put in a challenging spot."

Indiana is one of six states, and the most recent, to bar undocumented students from getting the resident tuition rate. Others include Arizona, a state known for its strict anti-immigration laws.

Twelve states, including Texas, California and Illinois, allow undocumented students to get in-state tuition under certain requirements, such as graduation from a state high school and a certain number of years of residence in the state.

The rest don't have laws specifically mentioning tuition for undocumented students, although a 1996 federal law generally prohibits states from allowing them to pay in-state rates. However, that position has been weakened by court rulings declined for review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 4, 2011 01:28 PM
Posted to Indiana Law