Tuition change should be OK'd

2/28/08
As the more compassionate voices in the national immigration debate have noted, we as a nation ought not punish children for the sins of their parents. Though illegal immigrants may have any number of reasons for being in this country without documentation, surely it is in no one’s interest to make their children, many of whom have never known a life in another country, pay the price for it.
It’s that thinking that is behind the idea, again before the state Legislature, to allow the children of illegal immigrants who have graduated from state high schools to pay in-state tuition at Connecticut’s public colleges. By achieving in secondary school, and proving themselves worthy of a higher education, they deserve the opportunity to make it happen.
Under current law, children here illegally who have nonetheless been living in the state for years are forced to pay out-of-state tuition rates to attend college here. The difference amounts to thousands of dollars per year, and can be enough to keep someone out of college altogether. That outcome benefits no one.
Opponents, including Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who vetoed a similar bill last session, say the state cannot ignore the fact that such students are here illegally. But it must be remembered that most of them had no say in where they grew up. Punishing capable young people who have excelled in our schools is not an example we want to set.
One version of the legislation would apply only to community colleges, but lawmakers should support the bill sponsored by Rep. Felipe Reinoso, D- Bridgeport, where students living in the country illegally would pay in-state rates at all the state’s public colleges and universities. The urge to seek change incrementally is understandable, but this is a policy that should be enacted in full, as soon as possible.
Connecticut faces a crisis of young workers fleeing the state for more attractive economies; the last thing we need is to discourage capable future workers from leaving even before they get started here. Such students could be made to apply for naturalization as a component of the tuition bill, but this is a change that is overdue. No one loses if this change is made.