Nearly half a million illegal aliens are\nbenefiting from in-state tuition at major U.S. public universities, reducing\nstate revenues and crowding out American students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The National Immigration Law Center<\/a> reports that 21 states — including Texas, California, Illinois, Florida and Maryland \u2013 grant in-state tuition breaks to illegal aliens. A map<\/a> shows tuition laws in all 50 states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c<\/strong>This issue is important to U.S. citizens, legal immigrants and permanent residents because the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition rates for most public institutions is substantial,\u201d FAIR<\/a> noted in its own report last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the 2018-19 academic\nyear, the average in-state tuition rate at four-year public schools in the U.S.\nwas $10,230, while out-of-state tuition averaged $26,290.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Immigrant advocacy groups promoting their agendas\nof \u201cdiversity\u201d and \u201cequal access\u201d have pushed a growing number of state\nuniversities to not only admit illegal aliens, but to grant them tuition breaks\ndenied to legal out-of-state applicants. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n This discriminates against\nlow- to modest-income Americans who also have college dreams. Awarding\ndiscounted tuition to 450,000 foreign nationals in this country illegally is\nanything but \u201cequal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, granting illegal\naliens in-state tuition can be read as a violation of federal law. The Illegal\nImmigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) of 1996 (8 U.S.\nCode \u00a7\u202f1623) seems clear enough: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNotwithstanding any other\nprovision of law, an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States\nshall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a State (or a political\nsubdivision) for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or\nnational of the United States is eligible for such a benefit (in no less an\namount, duration, and scope) without regard to whether the citizen or national\nis such a resident.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But states are skirting the federal law through a loophole\nopened by California, which makes in-state tuition contingent on having\ncompleted three years of high school there, rather than on legal residency.\nCongress, having ceased to function in any meaningful way, has not closed this loophole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only three states — Arizona,\nGeorgia and Indiana — officially bar illegal aliens from receiving in-state\ntuition at public universities. Two others \u2013 Alabama and South Carolina —\nprohibit illegal aliens from enrolling in most of their public colleges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Public universities cutting\ntuition breaks for illegal aliens are not just third-rate diploma mills\ndesperate for warm bodies. UCLA and UC Berkeley, ranked by U.S. News & World Report<\/a> as America\u2019s No. 1 and No. 2 public universities, offer generous discounts to illegal aliens who happen to be in California. While reducing tuition for students without legal status by $30,000 a year ($13,000 vs. $43,000 for legal, non-California enrollees), the UC system caps its enrollment of out-of-state Americans at 18 percent of the student body. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The absurdity climaxes with the reality that illegal aliens \u2013 with degrees or not \u2013 are barred from legal employment in this country. Then again, no one said these tuition deals are predicated on law or logic. It\u2019s a paradox for Americans to ponder as they work to pay off their collective $1.5 trillion<\/a> in college loan debt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nearly half a million illegal aliens are benefiting from in-state tuition at major U.S. public universities, reducing state revenues and crowding out American students. The National Immigration Law Center reports that 21 states — including Texas, California, Illinois, Florida and Maryland \u2013 grant in-state tuition breaks to illegal aliens. A map shows tuition laws in<\/p>\n