After a decision to prohibit the admission of undocumented students, the North Carolina Community College System may change its policy after confirming that federal law does not bar those students from admission.
According to a NCCCS press release, the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office informed the system of the law after requesting clarification from the Department of Homeland Security.
“Admission to public post-secondary educational institutions is not one of the benefits regulated by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996,” Jim Pendergraph, executive director of the Office of State and Local Coordination in the DOHS, said in a letter to the Attorney General’s Office.
Chancy Kapp, spokesperson for the NCCCS, said the system’s State Board will discuss the policy, which does not apply to public universities such as N.C. State, at its August 14 and 15 meetings.
The current admissions practice will remain until the State Board discusses it, she said.
Greg Doucette, president of the North Carolina Association of Student Governments and Student Senate president, said it is right for the states to decide on these practices.
“I think the federal government kind of recognized the obvious,” he said. “It’s been accepted practice that it’s the state’s decision whether or not to allow immigrants.”
In the spring of 2007, 112 out of about 29,700 students were identified as undocumented, Kapp said, and there is no way to determine how many students may have been turned away because of the recent decision.
A “huge” reason why the numbers of undocumented students are so low, she said, is that while they were allowed to enter community colleges, and as they are currently allowed to attend state universities, these students must pay out-of-state tuition.
The issue of admission must be settled before the tuition rates can be discussed, Doucette, a senior in computer science, said.
“We need to settle this decision of whether or not it’s ok to allow undocumented students,” he said. “I think the bulk of the state would support that position knowing that they’re paying for their own education.”
The tuition rates are also not distributed because of a student’s undocumented status, but because one must be able to prove in-state residency to qualify for in-state tuition, Kapp said.
According to Doucette, the NCCCS should decide soon to reverse their decision.
“They owe [undocumented students] enough to have an open-door policy and allow people to better themselves by being able to have access to higher education,” he said.
