Tuition break up to lawmakers

AG: Ed panel doesn't have power to give in-state rate to illegals

Sara Burnett And John Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 25, 2006 at midnight

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The Colorado Commission on Higher Education doesn't have the authority to offer lower-cost, in- state tuition to illegal immigrants, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers has ruled.

The opinion places the power to grant in-state tuition solely with the General Assembly - where a measure to do so has failed three years in a row.

CCHE Executive Director Rick O'Donnell asked the attorney general's office to look into the issue after supporters of the legislation, frustrated they couldn't get it passed, turned to CCHE. O'Donnell said he told those supporters that under state law, his office doesn't have the power to grant in-state tuition to students who are not legal residents. The opinion issued Monday reinforced that.

"For those who want this, they have to go talk to the legislature," O'Donnell said. "Not us."

Rep. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, hailed Suthers' decision. "I think that's certainly the way it should be and the way CCHE has been interpreting it all the time."

Harvey is one of four GOP lawmakers who have introduced bills during the current session that targets illegal immigration.

Since becoming a lawmaker in 2002, he has sponsored a bill or amendment every year that would have prevented illegal immigrants from receiving in-state tuition.

Supporters of in-state tuition, including the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver, have argued all students should have access to education beyond high school. Many of the students, they say, have lived all their lives in Colorado but don't have citizenship because their parents failed to pursue it.

The difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition, they add, could prevent those students from getting a degree and contributing more to Colorado's economy. At the University of Colorado, for example, the typical in-state student pays $4,446 tuition this year. Students from outside Colorado pay $21,900.

Opponents say giving illegal immigrants a break on tuition would encourage more people to come to Colorado illegally. It also would cost taxpayers more, they say.

More than a half dozen states, including Texas, California, Kansas and Illinois, have passed laws that allow colleges to grant in-state tuition to illegal immigrants who have graduated from an in-state high school.

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