By Jim Spencer
SpencerSpeaks.com
Metro State College professor Luis Torres uses one word to describe his school’s decision to charge out-of-state tuition to U.S. citizens and Colorado residents whose parents are illegal immigrants:
“Unconstitutional.â€
“It’s amazing how many people in
Recently, said Torres, the implications in
Defacto discrimination against Hispanic Americans is a demographic fact of life in Metro’s tuition policy and the similar policies of at least two other state colleges –
But the specter of racism – even if it is unintended – is only part of the problem. The true scandal resides in the notion that children can be punished for their parents’ crimes.
Metro spokeswoman Cathy Lucas told me a new state law forced her school to charge in-state kids out-of-state tuition.
House Bill 1023, passed in the last session of the General Assembly, says taxpayer money cannot benefit illegal immigrants. That, combined with an old law that says state colleges must consider the residency of a students’ parents, convinced Metro,
As pubic policy, this reasoning is worse than tortured. It’s self-defeating.
“I work with several students who would be affected by this,†said Adriana Ayala, pre-collegiate director of the
Some of Ayala’s students are the children of the illegal immigrants who wash clothes, cook food and tend lawns of
Ayala’s students and those like them deserve the chance to grab their bootstraps and pull. They do this in the best American tradition – by educating themselves. Denying them that opportunity because their parents don’t have papers constitutes a particularly ugly form of cruel and unusual punishment.
David Skaggs, the executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education, believes that. So do officials at the University of Colorado, Colorado State University and the state’s 13 community colleges. All have taken the position that you can’t visit the sins of the fathers and mothers on the sons. All want American citizens and
Skaggs calls in-state tuition for American citizens and
It is also a matter of equal protection under the law.
Roberto Suro of the
Immigrant advocates in
Skaggs has asked Colorado Attorney General John Suthers for an opinion on in-state tuition for the citizen-children of illegal immigrants. Skaggs wants a uniform tuition policy for all state schools. And he also wants that uniform policy to offer in-state tuition to
The battle here is over the term “domicile.â€
“There is,†said Skaggs, “a question as to whether parents who are not legal residents of the
Skaggs says he is prepared to ask the General Assembly to right this wrong, if Suthers won’t.
Suthers’ spokesman told me an opinion on in-state tuition for citizen-residents with illegal immigrant parents is at least two weeks away.
You wonder what the hold-up is.
Meanwhile, you don’t have to wonder about the impact of policies like the ones espoused at Metro,
At Metro, the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition is the difference between $3,000 and $11,000, the difference between a chance at a better life and a life of underachievement.
“Right now, it’s about money,†said 22-year-old Nelson Villegas, whose parents are undocumented. Villegas got a scholarship and in-state tuition before the new law went into effect. But he knows what it will do to other young people like him.
“If they see the higher prices,†Villegas said, “they’re just going to say, ‘I can’t.’â€
Torres agrees. Charging citizens and state residents out-of-state tuition because their parents are undocumented “is the academic equivalent of the poll tax. It disenfranchises a certain group of people.â€
That doesn’t just make the practice wrong. It makes it intolerable.
Copyright 2007 by Jim Spencer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
7 users commented in " Denial of In-state Tuition Costs Immigrants’ Children Dearly "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackPunishing the children for the sins (if you assume that arriving here illegally is a sin, and I can understand that view) of their parents is not just unconstitutional, though it certainly IS unconstitutional by any reasonable reading of that document, it’s a particularly and peculiarly specific form of cruel and unusual punishment, since most of the children discriminated against will have parents who understand all too clearly what’s being done to their children.
“That doesn’t just make the practice wrong. It makes it intolerable.†Yes indeed, and it also makes it despicable.
“the sins of the parent” is a good argument, and place to start righting this injustice. But anti-illegal ilk are going to use the “paying state taxes” as their cover for this. We know illegals in “regular” jobs do pay state and fed taxes, but don’t file tax returns, even with refunds due, to avoid detection. If there’s a way they can prove they paid state, even property taxes, over the minimum requirement for state residents, wouldn’t that suffice?
With the high minority drop-out rate in our failing public schools, one wonders how many people this actually has an effect on. According to the tuition guidelines, if the students were EMANCIPATED there would be no problem because if they are born here they are indeed legal citizens. Perhaps that is the key.
The millions of illegal immigrants have vastly impacted our country, schools, decent-paying jobs, etc and looking to the future it will be a nightmare to our social security and medical systems if they are granted automatic citizenship. But one should NOT punish people who are citizens, but rather admire these young people who want to improve themselves through college.Past history shows that the 2nd generation pulls themselves up. It’s the American way!
Another example of “no easy solution” to a tough problem. I agree with you on this one, though, children born here should not have to pay for their “fathers’ sins”…something like this will just perpetuate the “curses of the generation” (since we’re being Biblical). If people want to help themselves, it is crazy to put roadblocks in their way….this is certainly not a productive way to deal with illegal immigration.
Isn’t there someone –and a retired-on-Social Security can’t do it– who can front a suit on the constitutionality of this business?
Again, it’s ridiculous to charge a legal resident of the State of Colorado out of state tuition. The parents are separate entities and their status should not be considered in this matter. IT IS JUST COMMON SENSE. It’s like saying my mother and father are felons so I am not allowed to vote.
If the children are here illegally, they cannot by definition be Colorado residents. As such, they have no right to in-state tuition, and should not receive the subsidy.
If the children are here legally and are over the age of 18, they become emancipated minors and as such, are entitled to in-state tuition.
I honestly don’t see the problem here.
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