The community college system in North Carolina announced Tuesday that under a new interpretation of federal law, illegal immigrants will not be allowed to enroll in degree programs in the 58 community colleges across the state.
According to Deborah Friedman, president of Surry Community College, "The colleges have been told we're not to put them into curricular programs. As it stands now, we will no longer admit individuals who are illegal immigrants."
Illegal immigrants can, however, continue to enroll in non-college level courses such as the GED program or English as a second language courses.
This new action also does not affect high school students who are enrolled in college courses through programs such as the Early College. This is because those programs are not based on residency but on attendance of a North Carolina high school, according to Friedman.
In a memo sent to all community college campuses in the state, the system told administrators to return to the policy set up in 2001. According to an Associated Press report, this policy states that illegal immigrants were not eligible under federal law "for most state or local public benefits. Post-secondary education is one of those benefits that undocumented or illegal aliens are not eligible to receive."
This change from last year's decision by the community college system to allow the enrollment of illegal immigrants comes as a result of the decision to ask the North Carolina Attorney General for guidance in interpreting the federal law about the legality of the decision.
One reason the college may have few, if any, illegal immigrants is because of the cost. Illegal immigrants currently enrolled in a community college must pay out of state tuition which makes the cost significantly higher than that of an in state student. For a 16 credit hour course load, in state students pay $672. For the same course load, out of state students pay $3,732.80.
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