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by JUSTIN HERBERGER
News Reporter
In a decision made last week by the State Board of Community Colleges, each of the North Carolina Community College System’s (NCCCS) 58 institutions will allow the admission of illegal immigrants.
Friday’s outcome was the culmination of eight years of debate on the issue after a 2001 policy went into effect, initially allowing admission of illegal immigrants to community colleges.
Since then, the policy has been reversed or altered three times.
The 18-member board voted almost unanimously, minus Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, to approve the new policy.
“Now is not the time to increase the demands on our already overburdened community college system,” Dalton said in a statement.
The new policy allows for the admission of undocumented students as long as they meet several requirements.
Eligible
students must have graduated from a U.S. high school, must pay
out-of-state tuition and may not displace a North Carolina or U.S.
resident from a class or program.
Students
paying out-of-state tuition will have to pay approximately $7,700 per
year to attend a community college, according to a NCCCS press release.
A
full-time student paying in-state tuition at Caldwell Community College
& Technical Institute is responsible for $2,895.60.
“I think
[the cost] is going to be a barrier,” Caldwell Community College
President Kenneth A. Boham said. “It’s going to be sticker shock for
them. I don’t think there’re a lot of undocumented immigrants that can
afford out-of-state tuition.”
Similar policies regarding the admittance of undocumented immigrants exist elsewhere in the county.
In a
press release, NCCCS President R. Scott Ralls said the new policy
“reflects the admissions standards of other states and of the public
universities by offering educational opportunity to those who are
willing to work hard to obtain it.”
The only
state to completely bar undocumented students is South Carolina,
according to NCCCS consultant firm John B. Lee and Associates.
Caldwell Community College student Stephanie I. Ratiff said she would not mind illegal immigrants attending community colleges.
“I’m not going to judge them for trying to get a better education,” she said. “Why not? It’s a free country.”
Rycker J. Ingram, also a Caldwell Community College student, disagrees.
“There’s ways of getting into the country legally… [to attend college] you should at least be a citizen,” he said.
Gov.
Beverly Perdue opposes the board’s actions. Allowing illegal immigrants
to enroll at community colleges was a bad plan, she said in a statement
last week, because “they can’t work legally in the state after they’re
educated.”
Boham
said the policy is limited because although it allows them access to
the training needed to enter the workforce, state law prohibits
employers from hiring illegal immigrants.
“What
actually are you doing for that student?” he said. “When you can
provide the complete educational experience that they would need, but
when it comes to certification to go to work, they can’t do it. That’s
a conundrum of a situation to put the student in.”
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This refusal to abide by our Constitution or enforce our Immigration Laws should be classified as Treason of the most foul kind, & as grounds for impeachment & trials for Treason!
Not only have they allowed the invasion, they force American tax payers to pay Billions on Billions of dollars to provide Welfare, Prison cells, Educate the invaders numerous children, and free medical care, at the same time the invading horde break numerous laws and massive document fraud, & are destroying our schools, hospitals, communities, culture and standard of living while Robbing, Raping, Killing & Assaulting American Citizens WAKE UP PEOPLE!