Michael CrowArizona State University president Michael Crow said Friday he came to the aid of Arizona high school graduates who have to pay expensive, out-of-state tuition rates because they aren’t in the U.S. legally. But Crow also is essentially thumbing his nose at Arizona voters who said overwhelming last year they didn’t want higher education tax dollars to support such people.In the 2006 general election, voters approved Proposition 300, which requires all state universities and community colleges to verify legal residency for anyone receiving in-state tuition as well as tuition waivers and other public scholarships.Crow basically bragged at a luncheon Friday about a new financial aid program that helps some illegal immigrants attend ASU anyway, according to an Associated Press story in Sunday’s Tribune. The program connects people who have Arizona high school diplomas with privately funded scholarships so they can afford to pay out-of-state tuition. Crow estimated 150 to 200 students have received help so far to the tune of $1.8 million.Prop. 300 was tough issue last year for the Tribune Editorial Board. On the one hand, such a policy punishes people who are in the United States through no fault of their own. Usually, such students were brought here by their parents at a young age, educated in Arizona schools and immersed in American culture. And part of that culture these days is most high school graduates go on to some kind of higher education.On the other hand, it makes sense that limited government resources should be directed to U.S. citizens and legal residents who have better chance of staying here for the long haul. (An illegal immigrant in college, even with an Arizona high school diploma, has a good chance of being deported as we’ve seen with some high-profile cases recently.)The Editorial Board said Prop. 300 strikes a decent compromise. Immigrants could still attend a state-funded college. But they would have to figure out how to pay for tuition themselves without extra assistance from state taxpayers. In-state tuition is heavily subsidized by the state, which is why that issue was targeted along with tax-funded financial assistance.By using only private scholarships, ASU’s financial aid program doesn’t appear to violate Prop. 300. But the use of university personnel and other resources to specifically help immigrant students find and receive those scholarships certainly violates the voters’ intent.Crow might think Prop. 300 is mean-spirited and counterproductive. Heck, I’m not that fond of it myself. But Crow has a duty as a state official to respect policies approved by voters and taxpayers who fund his institution. He should not look for means to circumvent the law and then boast about it.Besides, he’s probably done more damage to overall future of immigrant students. With the passage of Prop. 300, it appeared that immigration enforcement activists were satisfied and would leave alone those who still could afford to attend college.But the next step could be to ban illegal immigrants from attending a state-funded college altogether. Given what Crow has done, I won’t be surprised if that idea is pushed hard in time for the 2008 general election.

Posted in: Immigration |

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.