HAMPTON DELLINGER: N.C. constitution argument to end UNC tuition discrimination
Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020 -- No matter how great their academic success nor how deep their community ties, North Carolinians lacking citizenship must pay out-of-state tuition if they are admitted to the state's community colleges and universities. For too many undocumented students, the price hike puts higher education out of reach. For legal, policy and moral reasons this tuition discrimination must end.
Posted — UpdatedHigh school seniors in North Carolina don identical caps and gowns or, this year, received the same congratulatory yard signs. But all students are not treated equally when it comes to continuing their education. No matter how great their academic success nor how deep their community ties, North Carolinians lacking citizenship must pay out-of-state tuition if they are admitted to the state’s community colleges and universities. For too many undocumented students, the price hike puts higher education out of reach. For legal, policy and moral reasons this tuition discrimination must end.
While other rights, particularly those relating to office holding and voting, are reserved to citizens, the vital education guarantees go uncircumscribed and apply to all who call North Carolina home. The same is true for Article I, Section 19 which promises that “no person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws; nor shall any person be subjected to discrimination by the State because of race, color, religion, or national origin.”
What is vitally important to such companies? The availability of high-skilled workers. More North Carolinians with a post-secondary school education will make the state a more desirable location where companies can come to locate and expand. That’s a lesson that the dozens of states who have reduced or eliminated tuition discrimination have learned. Indeed, treating undocumented high school graduates as in-state students simply will bring North Carolina in line with Florida, Virginia, Texas, and other competitors in business recruitment battles.
And their community contributions come with nearly none of the benefit returns afforded citizens despite undocumented immigrants paying sales, payroll, and other taxes. In spite of the hardships placed on their parents, many childhood arrivals succeed in North Carolina schools aided in no small measure by supportive family, friends, teachers, and school staff. For the State of North Carolina to then put an often insurmountable obstacle in the path of these kids, and just at the moment all their hard work has paid off in the form of a high school diploma, is – in a word – heartless.
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