Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education endorsed a legislative bill that would allow children of illegal immigrants to attend college and pay in-state tuition at its meeting on Friday.
The resolution supported House Bill 1559 and Senate Bill 596. This legislation would provide non-qualified immigrants who graduate from Oklahoma high schools after at least two years of attendance consideration for admission to Oklahoma colleges under the same financial conditions as an Oklahoma resident.
Undocumented students do not qualify for federal financial aid.
But the Senate bill 596, introduced by Sen. Keith Leftwich, D-Oklahoma City, and amended in committee, would allow undocumented college students possibly to qualify for some state financial aid. The House bill does not include this provision.
Ned Bastow, regents chief legal counsel, explained that this is a growing problem in Oklahoma. If illegal parents bring their baby into the United States, that child would grow up in Oklahoma common education but would not be considered a U.S. citizen. All siblings born after that time are citizens.
The children of illegal immigrants, not lawfully in the country themselves, have a constitutional right to a K-12 education, according to a 1982 Supreme Court ruling. But their legal status in respect to higher education is uncertain.
But children of illegal immigrants' legal status in respect to higher education is uncertain, said Regent Cheryl Hunter.
At this point, it is unclear how many illegal immigrants attend Oklahoma institutions. Anecdotal evidence does exist that shows approximately 5,000 to 6,000 such students attend Oklahoma high schools, regents said.
Officials at Capitol Hill High School in Oklahoma City indicated that about one-third of the students are Hispanic, and about a half of those students have unlawful status, Bastow told the regents.
Regent Leonard Eaton said he thinks the bill is necessary.
"State financial aid should be on the table for them," Eaton said. "They are here and they are going to be here and we need to educate them."
Oklahoma joins eleven other states considering this type of legislation. New York, California and Texas already have enacted similar legislation.
"Many of these students have been working their way through the K-12 system, many of them are achieving at a very high level and are now looking for the next opportunity and all of a sudden we have this substantial legal uncertainty as to their access to higher education," Bastow said.
The regents said this legislation should provide eligibility for scholarship programs administered by the State Regents.
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