Student ban to remain for now Enrollment of illegal immigrants to be studied

James Romoser

Aug. 16, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- RALEIGH

North Carolina's community colleges will be off-limits to illegal immigrants while a state board continues to study the issue.

The State Board of Community Colleges voted yesterday to continue a directive issued in May that bars illegal immigrants from being admitted to any of the state's 58 community colleges. The directive will remain in effect while the board hires a consultant -- a step that board members said is necessary to study what other states do and to develop a permanent policy regarding illegal immigrants.

The issue of how to handle prospective students who are not legal U.S. residents has caused controversy and become highly politicized over the last few years, and state policy on the matter has changed four times since 2000.

The most recent policy, before the May directive, allowed illegal immigrants to attend community college but required them to pay out-of-state tuition, which is more than five times the cost of in-state tuition.

"Our board feels rather strongly about the open-door policy," said Stuart Fountain, the chairman of the board's policy committee. "But we also recognize that the community colleges are supported by the taxpayers. So we have to listen to both sides.

"We have people who say to us, 'What part of illegal do you not understand?'"

Many politicians and advocacy groups on both sides of the issue have weighed in. The two major candidates running for governor, Republican Pat McCrory and Democrat Bev Perdue, are both opposed to enrolling illegal immigrants. Perdue, who is an ex-officio member of the board because of her position as the state's lieutenant governor, made the motion yesterday to extend the directive barring illegal immigrants.

Under the old, open-admissions policy, a small number of illegal immigrants were admitted. The community-college system said that during the 2006-07 school year, officials identified 112 illegal immigrants enrolled in college-credit courses -- a tiny percentage of the more than 200,000 total students in college-credit courses.

In May, reacting to concerns that federal law may prohibit illegal immigrants from attending community college, the state board issued its directive banning them from enrolling. But federal officials recently informed North Carolina that no federal law applies and that it is a state decision. That information caused the state board to revisit the issue yesterday and decide that further study is necessary.

The consultant that will be hired to do the study will be paid for with public money from a reserve fund. Board members said they do not know how much it will cost, and they said that existing staff members with the community-college system are unable to perform the study themselves.

Yesterday's decision, and the May directive, do not affect illegal immigrants who are already enrolled in community colleges.

The UNC system, which is separate from the community-college system, allows illegal immigrants if they graduated from an American high school, pay out-of-state tuition and do not get federal financial aid.

In Forsyth County, community-college officials have generally preferred opening admissions to illegal immigrants. Starting in 2005 and continuing until May, Forsyth Technical Community College opened its admissions to illegal immigrants who graduated from North Carolina high schools.

"We should be serving those young people who have grown up in our community, who have graduated from our high schools ... and are likely to remain in our communities," said Gary Green, the president of Forsyth Tech.

Green said that he knows of four students who are illegal immigrants and are currently enrolled in college-credit courses at Forsyth Tech. The college asks students for their Social Security numbers and residency information.

"While I cannot absolutely say that there are not more, I think it's very unlikely that there are many more than that," he said.

Officials with the community-college system said that it would be nearly impossible for colleges to do exhaustive checks on every student to be certain of their immigration status.

Although the issue is in the hands of the state board right now, it could ultimately be decided by the General Assembly, if state legislators decide to get involved. Some Republicans support a state law banning illegal immigrants from attending community colleges.

And U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, a Republican from Charlotte, said this week that she plans to introduce a bill in the House that would withhold federal money from colleges and universities that admit illegal immigrants.

James Romoser can be reached at 919-210-6794 or at jromoser@wsjournal.com.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0222-27453084