Policy enacted by the North Carolina Community College System this week to admit illegal immigrants to community colleges has incited protest in the educational community as some have said it is unjust, given the state of the economy, to allow undocumented students to be given equal education to students legally in the states.
The UNC System has held a similar policy admitting illegal immigrants since 2004.
The section addressing illegal immigrants, revised in 2007, states, “undocumented aliens are eligible to be considered for admission at UNC constituent institutions based on their individual qualifications.” Limitations on the policy include that undocumented students can only be considered if they graduated from a high school in the United States and must be charged out-of-state tuition.
Director for Undergraduate Admissions, Thomas Griffin, said as long as the UNC System allows for illegal immigrants to attend school, they will be admitted the same as everyone else.
“The University’s policy is to always adhere to UNC policy. To that end, we do admit a number of illegal immigrants to N.C. State as undergraduates; however, only citizens are allowed into the graduate programs.”
Griffin said the University does not maintain records on illegal immigrants nor is it required to report on their admission.
Jonathan Vogel, a sophomore in computer science, said he felt slighted by the policy.
“If they pay for [college] themselves it’s fine, but if they get a lot of scholarships it’s really disappointing,” Vogel said. “Illegals taking acceptance slots from citizens is also unfair.”
Griffin said the UNC policy manual dictates undocumented students are not eligible for state or federal financial aid in the form of grants or loans. Additionally, the NCSU financial aid site says only citizens are eligible for state and federal scholarships.
Griffin also denied the existence of any admissions quotas and said the only cap on admissions employed at the University is an 18-percent limit on out-of-state students, which is far from being reached.
Nayely Perez-Huerta, community outreach coordinator for El Pueblo, a non-profit Latino advocacy group, said illegal immigrants contribute to tax revenue while getting nothing in return.
“It is a misconception that illegal immigrants do not pay taxes. Immigrants still file taxes, but since they don’t have a social security number they are not documented and in fact do not receive government benefits,” Perez-Huerta said.
On this basis, she said, illegal immigrants deserve admission into the college system.
“Education is a human right,” Perez-Huerta said. “These students have been part of the community their whole lives and will be contributing parts of the state’s future. They should have full access to education as well as the aid provided by the government.”
Isaac Miller, a freshman in biomedical engineering, said he felt it was unjust that illegal immigrants receive the same benefits that citizens and legal immigrants have.
“[The policy] angers me a little. It seems unfair to the legal immigrants who go through the entire process to obtain citizenship.”
Perez-Huerta said there is no process for undocumented students, after living in the country for their whole lives, to obtain citizenship without interrupting their education.
“It is also difficult for immigrants to enter the country due to established immigration quotas,” Perez-Huerta said.
