The law does not grant in-state tuition to all undocumented immigrants in the state but rather those who have established residency.
To qualify, undocumented immigrants must show that they have lived in Texas for at least three years, graduated from a state high school and sign an affidavit stating that they plan to seek citizenship. In contrast, U.S. citizens from other states can qualify for in-state tuition rates at Texas colleges and universities a year after establishing residency.
Supporters of the in-state tuition law say it allows undocumented immigrants who came to the country as children to be productive members of society. Opponents argue that undocumented immigrants are receiving opportunities that are denied to American citizens from other states.
But Texas Commissioner of Higher Education Raymund Paredes said the perception that undocumented immigrants are receiving benefits that are not afforded to U.S. citizens is simply not true.
"We're not giving any benefits to these students that are not available to other students," Paredes said. "The standard for residency is higher and that's something that needs to be understood."
A total of 16,476 undocumented immigrants -- about one percent of the 1.4 million students in Texas community colleges and universities -- took the affidavit route last year. About 73 percent of those students attended two-year community and technical colleges, where the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition rates ranges from about $1,600 to $2,600.
At the University of Texas at El Paso about 107 of 22,000 students fit into the category. El Paso Community College had 242 of its nearly 30,000 students select the affidavit route in 2010.
"Education is a public good and we all benefit when talented young people are provided educational opportunities," UTEP president Diana Natalicio said. "These are young people who have shown that they have the talent, and motivation and work ethic because they've graduated from high school and, in many cases, have excelled academically. Providing them educational opportunities is exactly the right thing to do."
Higher education for Texas students is primarily funded by state dollars and through tuition and fees. Texas kicks in state dollars to subsidize the college education for in-state residents whose tax dollars contribute to funding higher education.
Last year, the state provided about $12.1 million in formula funding for undocumented students who qualified as Texas residents. Those students, in turn, paid $32.7 million in tuition and fees.
Officials with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and both liberal and conservative policy think tanks said another point that gets missed is that undocumented immigrants who live in the state pay sales taxes and other taxes, which contribute to funding higher education in Texas.
"Anybody who meets the criteria for receiving in-state tuition has actually been paying the tax to fund it for some time and, so, in that sense, it's probably not strictly accurate to say that this is a benefit that is simply received on the backs of legal residents of the state," said Joshua Trevino, the vice president of communications for the conservative think tank, Texas Public Policy Foundation.
Bi-partisan support
Texas was the first of 13 states -- some of which have Republic majorities -- to approve in-state tuition for qualifying undocumented immigrants. The measure was signed into law by Perry in 2001 after it was overwhelmingly approved in the Democratic majority Texas House on a 142-1 vote and in the Republican majority Senate by a margin of 27-3.
A Republican-dominated Legislature this year chose not to take on bills that would repeal the law by leaving them pending in committees. And, a last-ditch effort by a freshman Republican senator to remove in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants by attaching it to another bill was shot down by bi-partisan opposition on the Senate floor.
State Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, said eliminating the law would not solve real border security concerns but rather was a symbolic message -- one that state lawmakers should not be proud to pass.
"These young people have worked hard to excel," Duncan said on the floor of the Senate in May. "They're not the problem that we're trying to solve with regard to illegal crime and drugs.Ê
"These are kids who are just trying to reach the American dream. So I thought when I voted for it that it was a good conservative bill, a good conservative move, because it turns them into productive persons, hopefully productive United States citizens."
Texas Association of Business president Bill Hammond, whose organization generally sides with Republican-sponsored policies, supports the in-state tuition law and says it has been misunderstood at the national level.
"It's a work force issue," Hammond said.
"We need to have a much better educated work force in Texas."
Hammond and others said the federal government's inability to pass comprehensive immigration reform puts states like Texas in a tough spot because they have to deal with the consequences. At the same time, he said, the state of the national economy has heightened the political backlash against undocumented immigrants.Ê
"The economy is not near where we would like it to be and, very unfortunately, a lot of people are concerned about keeping their jobs," Hammond said. "As a result of that, I think people are looking to blame someone for their problems, and in this case, unfortunately, immigrants are an easy target."
State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, agreed with Hammond.
"In uncertain economic times there's always been a group that is scapegoated, unfortunately it's been immigrants in this," she said.
Van de Putte, the Senate sponsor of the in-state tuition bill, said its support did not hinge on social justice or any moral imperative. Instead, she said, economics was the driving force behind the bill's passage.
Federal law requires the state to educate all children, regardless of legal status, through high school.
"We've already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to educate these students," Van de Putte said. "It made economic sense to let them continue.
Why should we punish students for the transgressions of their parents?"
Still, a national spotlight on the hot-button issue has some Republicans looking to distance themselves from the law.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who is seeking the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, told WFAA television in Dallas that he would not have signed the bill into law.
State Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Center, said he voted for the law but believes it was misrepresented and misunderstood.
He said he thought undocumented immigrants would have to prove that they were already in the process of attaining citizenship before qualifying. But the bill does not contain such a requirement, instead it said that undocumented immigrants would have to sign an affidavit stating that "the individual will file an application to become a permanent resident at the earliest opportunity the individual is eligible to do so."
Christian said conservative watchdog groups did not flag the bill as a concern at the time and lawmakers sometimes struggle to keep up with thousands of bills that are filed and passed each session.
"You really don't read the words of every bill," he said. "I guess it's a John Kerry moment for me. I voted for it before, now I've voted against it. I've since co-authored bills to kill it."
Christian said that while he supports Perry's presidential bid, the governor is making a mistake in standing by the law.
Eva Mancuso, who sits on Rhode Island's Board of Governors for Higher Education, sees things differently.
The board last week voted to make Rhode Island the latest state to approve in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants. Other states that have in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants are: California, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.
Mancuso described the story of a student whose parents went through a 10-year process of becoming U.S. citizens but, because their citizenship was processed after their son was 18, he had to start all over again. She said such students should have access to an affordable college education.
"To me it was a total no-brainer but I guess I'm just not filled with hate and anger with people who are here illegally," she said.
Source
