With 50,000 undocumented students attending college in the United States, the immigration bill going through Congress has become a hot issue for universities.
Although the bill took a major setback last week, various groups are still voicing their opinions for or against the bill.
For those undocumented students, a bill that gives full status to illegal immigrants would mean they could pay in-state tuition, according to Julie Mallette, director of the office of scholarships and financial aid.
Now, undocumented students must pay out-of-state tuition, even if they live in North Carolina.
“As it stands, the student has to be a U.S. citizen or an eligible non-citizen,” Mallette said.
Many of the aspects of the bill that would affect college students comes from the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors act.
The DREAM act provides a way for immigrant students to gain legal status, and thus pay in-state tuition.
“The DREAM act would most affect undocumented students,” Matt Peterson, the director of federal research affairs, said.
According to Peterson, NCSU has not taken a role lobbying for or against the bill and has not taken an official position on it.
“That has been handled more by university associations such as the [American Council on Education] and the [Association of American Universities],” Peterson said. “They’ve been more involved than individual universities have. It’s such a big issue that universities won’t have a major impact on it.”
One group that has fought for the bill is Third Way, a progressive group that provides policy and memos to Congress and briefs House members on issues, according to Matt Bennett, vice president of public affairs.
“The U.S. needs to keep more skilled college educated kids and turn them into taxpayers and not into competitors in another country,” Bennett said.
According to Paul Cox of Congressman David Price’s office, the bill caught a major holdup last week because of public support against it.
“There seemed to be a lot of resentment in some quarters and the support for it may not have been as vocal,” Cox said.
Though the bill is still making its way through Congress, Cox said there is disappointment that the DREAM act has gone down with the bill.
“It’s a shame that provision fell with the overall bill’s downfall,” Cox said. “Part of the problem was that it covered so many things that it fell victim to complaints from just about anybody. That’s the beauty and the kiss of death of comprehensive packages.”
Cox and others noted that this bill has the potential to hit Triangle universities hard, because of their propensity towards research.
“As research universities, you’re always concerned with the ability to conduct research and recruit top scientists — many of whom may be foreigners,” Cox said. “We’re also relying on skilled immigrants for programs, so it hits the Research Triangle hard.”
One of the bill’s most hotly contested aspects is whether or not illegal immigrants already in the country should be given full status — a facet that would give students the ability to pay in-state tuition.
“Watching what they go through is a bureaucratic nightmare,” Mallette said. “So I wouldn’t mind some flexibility.”
