Bill Would Deny College Admission to Illegal Immigrants

With the January introduction of House Bill 11, Rep. George Cleveland, R-Onslow, has again stirred a decade-long debate in the Tar Heel State about the potential costs of educating illegal immigrants in North Carolina public community colleges and universities.

In the past, when illegal immigrants have been allowed to enroll in state-run postsecondary institutions, the students have paid out-of-state tuition rates.

The four-term representative’s bill would prohibit admission to any person who is not lawfully present in the United States. If H.B. 11 becomes law, it would reverse admissions policies already in effect at the University of North Carolina system’s 16 campuses.

The community college system has reversed its policy on whether to admit illegal immigrants four times since 2001. The State Board of Community Colleges voted in 2009 to admit illegal immigrants into curriculum programs provided they had graduated from a U.S. high school, paid out-of-state tuition (then approximately $7,700) for a full course load, and didn’t displace U.S. citizens. Last March, the board reaffirmed its position by 13-1 vote, with Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton opposing the measure. But a bill specifically allowing illegal immigrants to attend community colleges has yet to pass the General Assembly.

Cleveland tells Carolina Journal that he doesn’t believe the state’s colleges have a handle on how many illegal immigrants are enrolled. “Last year, I had my legislative assistant contact all of the community colleges to try and ascertain how many were actually attending,” Cleveland says. “It became apparent that they had no clue as to how many illegals were in their schools.”

An Internet-based service from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services allows community colleges and universities to determine students’ immigration status for a modest cost. The Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, costs 50 cents per transaction and takes between three and five seconds to receive a response. SAVE uses information from Department of Homeland Security databases to determine an applicant’s immigration status, ensuring that only entitled applicants receive federal, state, or local public benefits. Applicants are required to submit an alien identification or Social Security number.
“The state subsidizes students at about $13,000 a year,” Cleveland said, “and for each illegal alien attending, the state is subsidizing them, and that means that a North Carolina citizen cannot use that seat.”

This is the second time Cleveland has sponsored a bill prohibiting illegal immigrants from enrolling in state colleges and universities. “The Supreme Court requires us to give illegal aliens K-12 schooling,” he said. “I do not understand the mentality that wants the taxpayers to support and subsidize illegals that cannot legally work in the United States. The illegal population in North Carolina is driving down wages and taking work away from North Carolina citizens. As Americans and citizens of North Carolina, I think we all would want to send them home.”

Supporters of enrolling illegal immigrants in state colleges argue that educating unlawful residents is a relative bargain. Last spring, Tony Asion, executive director of El Pueblo, told The Charlotte Observer, “We have no problem incarcerating somebody at a cost of $39,000 a year, but we don’t want to educate them at no cost? That makes no sense to me.”

Backers also say the out-of-state tuition paid by illegal immigrant students could be a boon for North Carolina. A study conducted by the North Carolina Community College System in April 2009 found that community colleges gained $1,680 for every full-time equivalent, out-of-state student enrolled during the 2006-07 academic year. The average state and local appropriation per FTE annually was $5,344 during the same period; out-of-state tuition was $7,024, the study noted.

“I’m not buying into the fact that we make money off illegal immigrants,” says Ron Woodard of NC LISTEN, a nonprofit immigration reform group. “I don’t think we should be doing anything to encourage them to stay. We lose our proverbial rear end on all the other costs,” including the money needed to expand campuses to handle higher enrollments.

“There is nothing to prevent [illegal immigrants] from going back to their home country and getting an education there and doing whatever they want,” Woodard added. “Just because their parents broke the law, it doesn’t mean they should be able to keep breaking the law.”

The Washington, D.C.-based Federation for American Immigration Reform estimates the annual fiscal burden on North Carolina taxpayers from illegal immigration is more than $1.3 billion. The state has an estimated illegal immigrant population of about 385,000, according to a January 2009 report from FAIR.

With a Republican majority in both the state House and Senate, H.B. 11 may clear the General Assembly. It’s unclear whether Gov. Bev Perdue would veto the bill if it passes.

Kristy Bailey is a contributor to Carolina Journal.