Last spring, when asked about her stance on providing in-state tuition to undocumented students in North Carolina, System President Margaret Spellings said, “I come from a state that that’s been a long standing policy of the state.”
“Obviously the Board of Governors and the legislature need to weigh in on this, but I’ve seen it be successful in Texas — in a state with many, many miles of borders.”
This past week, Spellings held a panel conversation on the future of affordable education in North Carolina. Noticeably absent from this conversation was any discussion of in-state tuition for undocumented students.
While it would be preferable to have Spellings include undocumented students more in her plans for affordability, it is not too late for change. Spellings ought to take a stand on in-state tuition for undocumented students.
Let’s all remember that these undocumented N.C. students are largely coming from property-tax-paying and sales-tax-paying families and may have contributed to the public system in every aspect of their life, in the same way that a U.S. citizen in the state has done.
Spellings eventually heeded students’ call for her to decry House Bill 2 last year, and this board recognizes her for that. If she would like to enact one more policy that students on this campus will roundly rally around — both as fair but also simply as good public policy — then she would be wise to focus her efforts on providing in-state tuition for undocumented N.C. residents.
It is unfair to force students to pay state taxes but then deny the benefits of living in this state. The high cost of out-of-state tuition and a lack of scholarship opportunities means many undocumented students have no chance of affording UNC. When the financial barrier is lowered, more people will be able to apply and the application process will be more competitive.
Education should not be denied to a qualified, hard-working student for any reason, no matter where they are from. Spellings has a unique chance to further improve her image with the student population and to actively help out future Tar Heels.
She should not miss this opportunity.
