State Requires Colleges To Ask About Immigration Status
All of Arkansas two and four year colleges and universities are now on required to ask their potential students if they live in the United States legally. Both the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and the University of Central Arkansas in Conway used to offer students in-state tuition if they had official transcripts from a state high school.
FOX16.com reports that Jim Purcell, the Director of the State’s Higher Education Department, has sent a letter to all state universities and colleges warning that any illegal immigrant admitted to the college wouldn’t count toward its enrollment number, which the state uses to determine how much funding the institutions receive.
In 2005, a measure before the Arkansas Legislature would have extended both in-state tuition rates and scholarships to illegal immigrants. The measure failed after Beebe released his attorney general’s opinion.
According to KAIT – Jonesboro, AR, after Purcell’s letter was released, the president of the University of Arkansas System, B. Alan Sugg, claimed that the system will evaluate and implement any changes that may be made in admission requirements.
The letter from Jim Purcell, dated today, asks the 2-year and 4-year schools to, “include the question of residency, U.S. citizenship and require a valid Social Security number or student visa number, in a good-faith effort to comply with federal law.”
The Institute of International Education keeps track of all international students studying in US and reportedly their number has increased reaching to 565000 over these past two years.
Photo: © Murray Williams
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