The State Board of Community Colleges voted 16-1 to approve an admissions policy to allow undocumented immigrants to attend North Carolina community colleges. However, until the policy goes through the administrative rules process, which could take up to a year, the current admissions standard of not admitting undocumented immigrants, which went into effective May 2008, remains in place.
These prospective students must meet three criteria:
Must be a graduate of a U.S. high school
Must pay out-of-state tuition, totaling $7,700 per academic year
May not displace a North Carolina or U.S. resident from a class or program
Read Community College president R. Scott Ralls’ statement (288kb pdf). r-scott-ralls1 The portion about undocumented immigrants begins on page 2.
House Minority Leader Paul Stam (R-Apex) countered the vote with his own statement, available here (128kb pdf): paulstam
See the Indy’s previous coverage of the issue “NC colleges can admit illegal immigrants, Homeland Security tells AG,” and “Door to state’s community colleges shuts on illegal immigrants.”
