Can States Regulate Immigration? Part 7
Oregon to consider authorizing in-state tuition for illegal aliens
7 Dec 2007 in Regulatory Economics, Regulatory Policy
The Associated Press reports that Oregon's Board of Higher Education is considering a plan that would offer in-state tuition to qualified graduates of Oregon high schools who are not in the U.S. legally.
The Board's web site does not contain any reference to such a plan, so we cannot evaluate its content. The AP quotes Dalton Miller-Jones, a member of the 11-member Board, saying, "It seemed to us that it was a reasonable position to take." AP says Miller-Jones heads the panel of "students, faculty and administrators" that recommended the policy. Because Miller-Jones does not head either of the Board's two standing committees, we infer that this panel is actually an advisory committee. His bio says he is a professor of psychology at Portland State University, former vice provost at PSU fror academic affairs, and chairman of the black studies department.
The AP report says the stated problem this proposed policy is intended to solve is to increase diversity at Oregon state universities and colleges. It says Oregon universities "don't track who is legal and who isn't," and "Latino students, most of whom are here legally, make up 4 percent of enrollment in the public university system and 10 percent of the state population."
Students who are not citizens are considered international and ineligible for in-state tuition or financial aid and need an appropriate visa to attend.
The estimated annual tuition and fees at the University of Oregon are $6,174 for in-state students and $19,338 for international and out-of-state students.
...
Board members will discuss their priorities Friday in Portland but will not vote on the in-state tuition question.
It is unlikely, however, that this policy would have a perceptible change on campus diversity. All but two Oregon university campuses have 4% Hispanic enrollment despite their significant differences, suggesting that the university system already uses ethnicity to achieve system-wide diversity quotas. For this policy to increase the Hispanic percentage from 4% to 5% requires more than 200 additional Hispanic illegal aliens each year to graduate from Oregon high schools, meet academic qualifications for college admission, and choose to matriculate at in-state tuition rates.
| University | Total Enrollment | Hispanic Enrollment | % Hispanic Enrollment |
| Eastern Oregon University | 3,425 | 130 | 4% |
| Oregon Institute of Technology |
3,157 | 128 | 4% |
| Oregon State University - Corvallis Campus |
19,362 | 731 | 4% |
| Portland State University |
24,284 | 1,003 | 4% |
| Southern Oregon University |
5,002 | 221 | 4% |
| University of Oregon |
20,388 | 700 | 3% |
| Western Oregon University | 4,889 | 304 | 6% |
| Totals | 81,002 | 3,235 | 4% |
