tuition

Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper will sign legislation to grant in-state tuition for students in the country illegally who graduate from Colorado high schools.

The in-state rate is one-third the amount out-of-state students pay.

The debate over in-state college tuition for the children of undocumented immigrants is headed to the Indiana House.

Supporters of a national coalition of conservative clergy, law enforcement and business leaders are calling on Indiana lawmakers to roll back the state’s ban on in-state college tuition for the children of immigrants who came here illegally.

“From a legal status, they are aliens,” said Glenn Tebbe, executive director of the Indiana Catholic Conference. “But they are not aliens to the our human family.”

Tebbe, along with other supporters of a national network known “Bibles, Badges and Business for Immigration Reform,” came out in support of Senate Bill 207 during an event Wednesday at the Central Library in Indianapolis.

The legislation, which went to the House Committee on Education Thursday, only applies to undocumented students who were enrolled in college when the ban went into effect in 2011.

Some key Republican supporters of the bill, including House Education Committee Chairman Bob Behning, have been working to expand the bill to cover more students.

Tebbe called it a critical piece of legislation that conservatives should support. “This is a moral issue,” he said.

Supporters of the in-state tuition ban argue it doesn’t deny access to college for undocumented students. But opponents like Tebbe argue that it creates a huge obstacle

because it significantly boosts the cost of tuition. The out-of-state tuition rate is up to three times higher than the in-state rate.

Angela Smith Jones, director of public policy for the Greater Indiana Chamber of Commerce, urged opponents of the tuition ban to contact Republican leaders who control the Statehouse.

Megan Ritter, director of public policy for the Indiana Farm Bureau, said laws that block access to education “are creating an underclass that doesn’t need to be there.”

Tebbe, Ritter and Smith-Jones were part of panel of speakers who spoke at an event sponsored by the national Bibles, Badges and Business coalition. The event came less than week after a federal judge struck down key provisions in a 2011 Indiana immigration law that gave police sweeping powers to arrest people suspected of being in the country illegally...

Mike Murphy, an Indianapolis Republican who spent 16 years in the Indiana General Assembly as a vehement and vocal opponent of anti-immigration legislation, said that sentiment is changing.

“What a difference getting whipped in an election makes,” Murphy said.

CAIRCO notes:

See Indiana Federation for Immigration Reform & Enforcement for up-to-date information on Indiana legislation.

  Read more about [Indiana] Republicans softening on [illegal] immigration-Conservatives support immigrant tuition ban rollback

Two years ago, Indiana lawmakers bent on cracking down on illegal immigration passed a law that banned in-state college tuition for children of undocumented workers. It resulted in hundreds of students dropping out when they couldn’t afford the much higher out-of-state rates.

Now there is an effort to roll back that law. It’s led by some conservative Republican legislators who see the ban as both unfair to children brought here illegally by their parents and contrary to the state’s effort to produce more college graduates ...

Bill supporters dismiss that argument and cite the dozen states that currently have laws that conditionally allow in-state college tuition for the children of illegal immigrants who reside in those states.

“I’m hoping people are going to realize these students are not going to be deported under federal law,” (Republican state Senator) Leising said.  Read more about Led by some Indiana Republican legislators-Push is on to roll back [illegal alien] in-state tuition ban

An anonymous $2 million gift to the Denver Scholarship Foundation will provide aid to a group of students who are ineligible for federal assistance for college.

The gift will aid Denver Public Schools students who are undocumented immigrants [illegal aliens] but have received federal deferred-action status...

The foundation typically requires students to fill out the FAFSA, or free application for federal student aid, as a way to demonstrate need. But undocumented students can't participate in the program and so could not meet the foundation's scholarship-application requirements.

Now, DPS students who receive deferred-action status under a program to grant temporary work permits to immigrants [illegal aliens] who were brought here as children will be able to skip the FAFSA requirement and prove, instead, that they qualify for free or reduced lunch, which is the district's measure of poverty.

The $2 million will be divided among all undocumented students who apply, so the size of the scholarship will depend on how many students apply.

The students may also receive other foundation scholarships, making up for the fact they can't receive federal aid, foundation officials said...

However, national data shows that 9,658 immigrants in Colorado had applied for deferred action status as of mid-March...

This year, the state legislature passed ASSET, a bill that grants in-state tuition rates to any student who has been in Colorado schools for at least three years, regardless of immigration status. If it is signed by Gov. John Hickenlooper, the bill takes effect for the fall 2013 semester.

Most of the students who will qualify for the foundation's scholarship also will qualify for in-state tuition under ASSET.

CAIRCO Research

  Read more about $2 million donation to help undocumented DPS students pay for college

Across the board budget cuts, a/k/a sequestration, has forced the Army, Marine Corps and Air Force to halt their tuition assistance programs which are important to America's warriors, according to Pentagon Press Secretary George Little on Tuesday. However, this week the state of Colorado announced it was extending in-state tuition to illegal aliens, which amounts to thousands of dollars per student...
In states such as Massachusetts and California, illegal aliens are being given tuition assistance, while the U.S. government is cutting tuition assistance to service members returning from the battlefield.

"The Commander in Chief is using budget cuts and sequester as an excuse to cause financial pain to as many Americans as possible. It’s yet another Obama crisis that is completely manufactured," claims former U.S. Marine, now a police officer, Lawrence Brown.

"In his goal of blaming the GOP, Obama supports states like Colorado, California, and Massachusetts who are lowering tuition for illegal aliens and giving the bill to taxpayers, and taking away our military's tuition assistance," Brown said.

"When an illegal alien is granted in-state tuition and admission to a state university, he or she is directly competing with American students for that educational slot. This competition is unfairly biased against American students in other states who must pay out-of-state tuition to attend the university, while the illegal alien student is given in-state tuition preference," according to Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform.

"The president doesn’t care if he hurts American citizens including the military who are at the top of his list of who will suffer the most," said political strategist Mike Baker. "Fox News Channel's Judge Andrew Napolitano claims Obama's actions -- to intentionally hurt American citizens -- is an impeachable offense. Yet the GOP has failed to blow the whistle."... Read more about Tuition assistance to end for military, but not for illegal aliens

A bill allowing lower tuition rates for illegal immigrant students received final approval from state House lawmakers Friday.

Ten years after it was first introduced in the legislature, a bill allowing illegal immigrants [illegal aliens] in Colorado to attend public colleges at the in-state tuition rate appears to be just days away from passage.

The Colorado House gave the bill initial approval Tuesday in a debate that turned nasty at times, with discussions about hope and taxes. The House approved the bill on a voice vote and is expected to take it up for a recorded vote on Friday, thus sending it to Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat who has said he will sign it.

This year marks at least the sixth time in 10 years some sort of tuition bill has been introduced but the first time it is expected to pass...

A legislative fiscal analysis on the original version of the bill estimated there are approximately 1,500 high school graduates each year in Colorado without legal immigration status, and of those, about 500 will attend college the first year the law takes effect...

Based on those numbers, the new students would generate an additional $2 million in tuition for colleges and universities in the first year and $3 million the following year, money which also would be spent to educate those students. But because the 2013 bill includes immigrant [illegal alien] students in the College Opportunity Fund, the state would spend $930,000 the first year and $1.4 million the following year, the analysis said.

But the version of the bill the Senate passed takes the fiscal note off the bill. Democratic senators argued that it was wrong to infer there would be more from the College Opportunity Fund spent on the undocumented students because the fund is simply divided up on a per-student basis and sent to institutions.

"This is taxpayer-funded; make no mistake, taxpayers fund the (College Opportunity Fund)," said Rep. Amy Stephens, R-Monument...

• Giving in-state tuition to illegal aliens rewards criminal behavior and entices even more illegal immigration.
   
• It is illegal for illegal aliens to work in the United States. Even if they have a taxpayer-subsidized college degree.
   
• As there are only a fixed number of classroom seats, giving in-state tuition to illegal aliens will displace deserving American students of their higher education.
   
• In addition, this bill will make illegal aliens eligible for College Opportunity Trust funds and full institutional financial aid.
   
• The bill also exempts persons receiving educational services or benefits from providing any required documentation of lawful presence in the United States. This specifically overrides2006 HB 1023 - the most important immigration sanity bill to come out of the 2006 special legislative session.
   
  HB 1023 requires each applicant who applies for public benefits to affirm that they are lawfully present in the country.

From a January 14 Denver Post article: "Colorado Democrats back in-state tuition break for illegal immigrants" [aliens]

  Read more about Colorado House gives initial approval to in-state tuition for illegal immigrants[aliens]

The Colorado House gave first-round approval Tuesday to a bill that would allow illegal immigrants to attend public colleges at the in-state tuition rate.