

Don't cut tuition for illegal immigrants

At a debate last month, GOP presidential hopeful Rick Perry said it's heartless to deny illegal immigrants the right to attend college at in-state tuition rates.

We'd call it fair and fiscally prudent.

As Texas governor, Perry signed a bill in 2001 that lets illegal immigrants pay the lower tuition cost for state residents at public colleges and universities.

Similar proposals have been made for years in the Florida Legislature, but never passed. Now, Orlando's Sen. Gary Siplin is among legislators trying again.

Siplin's bill would let illegal immigrants pay in-state tuition at public colleges and universities as long as they attended high school in Florida at least three years, earned a diploma and applied for legal status. Those lower rates would no longer be reserved for students who can document their legal residency in Florida, or their parents' residency for students younger than 24.

As a result, the bill would extend the subsidy that Florida taxpayers provide for in-state students to illegal immigrants or their children, substantially cutting their cost of higher education. At the University of Central Florida, for example, tuition and fees for in-state students this year are about $5,600, a little more than a quarter of the $21,100 total for out-of-state students.

And it would bestow a benefit on illegal immigrants in Florida unavailable to legal residents from other states. An illegal immigrant from Mexico would pay less than a legal resident from Mississippi.

Advocates of in-state tuition for illegal immigrants argue that they are more likely to become productive citizens if educated. We agree. But current state policy doesn't deny them access to public colleges or universities — only the taxpayer subsidy intended for in-state students.

Siplin's bill shouldn't be confused with a separate measure in the House that would grant in-state tuition to Florida students who are U.S. citizens but whose parents are not. As citizens, those students should be treated the same as any other Florida resident, regardless of their parents' status.

We remain ardent supporters of immigration reform at the federal level — where such policy rightly belongs — that would create an earned path to legal status.

But it's unreasonable to ask Florida taxpayers — including those struggling to afford higher education for their own families — to shoulder tuition costs for illegal immigrants.

Even for Florida residents, the cost of higher education keeps climbing. State universities have been raising their in-state tuitions 15 percent a year, in part to make up for deep cuts in direct state funding. The system is in no position to create a new discount category for illegal immigrants.

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