As an international student who luckily happens to be a U.S. citizen, I immediately got access to a number of perks, like FAFSA and out-of-state tuition, which made the transition to college a bit easier in terms of finances, especially in comparison to other international students. However, while I was busy celebrating, I failed to understand that there are a number of students out there who are in situations where they very clearly deserve in-state tuition, but are denied this because of a number of silly loopholes in the system.
To qualify as a legal resident of North Carolina, students must not be a tax dependent of non-North Carolina parents or guardians, among other conditions. Most immigrant children’s parents unfortunately fall under the category of “non-North Carolina parents,” making it all the more difficult for these students to claim in-state tuition. While it is possible for these students to claim North Carolina residency after establishing independence from their parents, the process is extremely confusing, tedious, complicated and something no student enrolled in college should have to go through.
For North Carolina, this isn’t an inconsequential issue either. According to a report by the Duke Law School, “North Carolina is home to about 800,000 immigrants. Of the 1.45 million children in North Carolina public schools, roughly 55,000 are immigrants.” This is a significant number, and many of these students, despite living in North Carolina for most of their lives, are still forced to pay out-of-state tuition fees.
The National Immigration Law Center states there are at least 20 states and the District of Columbia “that permit certain students who have attended and graduated from secondary schools in their state to pay the same tuition as their ‘in-state’ classmates at their state’s public institutions of higher education, regardless of their immigration status.” However, North Carolina does not happen to be on that list, denying a number of immigrant students their right to cheap and affordable higher education.
Immigrant students are also not eligible for federal funding, so when they’re forced to pay out-of-state tuition fees, they often realize that they will not be able to afford college, and abandon their hopes of pursuing a higher education. Whether or not you like it, immigrants form a major component of the U.S. economy and population, so it is as important to take care of their youth as it is for U.S. citizens.
In addition to immigrants, there is another category of students who are unfairly denied in-state tuition. These are the students who satisfy all conditions to claim North Carolina residency but did not graduate from a high school in North Carolina. Because these students have not physically been living in North Carolina for the past 12 months before enrolling in college, they are denied in-state status, irrespective of the fact that most of them own real estate in the state, file regular taxes, etc. Furthermore, living on-campus will not allow them to fulfill the criteria of living in the state for 12 months, students have to be living off-campus to be able to claim residency.
According to the North Carolina Residency Determination Service, “While North Carolina welcomes out-of-state students it considers the privilege of providing a reduced in-state tuition rate to be a taxpayer benefit.” Based on this, even students who are dependents of immigrants but are not green-card holders and citizens who are taxpayers but did not graduate from a North Carolina high school should be allowed to qualify for in-state student status.
Unfortunately, reality dramatically differs from this statement, and there is a dire need to enforce a number of changes to remedy this situation. Firstly, all states should allow students graduating from secondary schools in their state to pay in-state tuition, including North Carolina. The paperwork students need to complete to be able to claim in-state residency should be revised to be less complicated and tedious, something young college students can easily fill out. Thirdly, I would personally recommend any student who has legal issues like this to take advantage of NC State’s legal services to ensure mistakes aren’t made during the application process.
According to the National Immigration Law Center, “In-state tuition is not the same as free tuition. It is a discount, but in fact the money paid by these students often increases school revenues because it represents income that the institutions would not otherwise receive.” The future of this state and country is dependent on the quality of education the youth receives, and it is imperative that North Carolina works to ensure all of its students are able to afford a quality education. If that means changing up the rulebook, then so be it.
