Kansas does something right for a change

[proud2BlibKansan]

House kills immigrant tuition repeal bill

By JIM SULLINGER
The Star’s Topeka correspondent

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Most conservative Republicans voted for the repeal, and most Democrats and moderate Republicans supported the current law, which was passed by the Legislature in 2004.

Under it, undocumented immigrants can qualify for the lower in-state tuition if they have attended a Kansas high school for three years and graduated or obtained a general education degree, and are in the process of applying for citizenship.

Opponents of the law argued that it violated a federal law. Rep. Becky
Hutchins, a Holton Republican and sponsor of the repeal, said federal law prohibits extending any higher education benefit to a noncitizen on the basis of residency unless the benefit is also extended to U.S. citizens.
She said Kansas wasn’t extending the benefit of lower in-state tuition to U.S. citizens in the 49 other states.

Hutchins said the 221 students attending Kansas colleges under the bill will have trouble joining the work force because it is illegal for employers to hire employees who are here illegally.

Duh - Anyone who believes employers abide by immigration laws is living in la la land. What an idiotic statement!
more . . .

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/living/education/higher_learning/14043200.htm

[SheilaT]

1. And of course,

U.S. citizens who are residents of Kansas and who meet the criteria for Kansas residency and are qualified to be admitted to the state colleges, also get in-state tuition. All states have residency requirements for in-state tuition, which seems fair to me.

The argument that giving these immigrants in-state tuition is costly, suggests that all those who only pay in-state rates are costing the state buckets of money. The real problem is that state legislatures have cut their financial support to schools steadily over the last thirty years. Attending a state school is nothing like the genuine bargain it used to be, alas.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. What gets me is they claim this discriminates against

other kids from out of state who would also like to attend our state universities at an in-state tuition rate. And of course those kids are from the families of US citizens. :eyes:

What they leave out of their argument is that these kids from Kansas who are getting instate rates, in spite of the fact that they are not citizens, are coming from families who are taxpayers IN THE STATE OF KANSAS, these kids have been educated IN KANSAS PUBLIC SCHOOLS and many of them have already entered the work force IN THE STATE OF KANSAS. So of course they deserve a discount on tuition over a kid who lives in say, Illinois, who has never contributed a dime to the economy of the state of Kansas and who has NOT graduated from a public school in Kansas.

I also find their objections racist. I have heard them debate. Kris Kobach is their attorney - need I say more? :)

[SheilaT]

3. Yep, exactly.

Did you see where Kobach's suit was thrown out of court because he (and those he was representing) didn't have standing to sue?

Sometimes justice prevails.

What really gripes me is the military folks who proudly refuse to pay local taxes, generally by claiming Texas or Florida as their residence, and then pull off getting their kids into the state university as a resident. I want to scream at them that they should pay their taxes like the rest of us, if they expect the privileges that go with it.

The really irritating thing is that it's mostly officers who pull this off, not lowly enlisted men, and I'm sorry, but officers make decent money, and it's not as though they didn't understand the career they were undertaking when they started. I have no patience for the "Oh, woe is me, I'm a member of the military and I have to work nights and weekends and I get transferred to other states and so I deserve extra breaks and considerations that the rest of you don't deserve" kind of thing.

I've worked my share of nights and weekends and holidays, and been transferred to another state, and I never got the kind of tax breaks and special considerations, nor did I make the kind of money a commissioned officer makes. Not to mention PX privileges, and lifetime medical benefits.

Yeah, I guess that's a hot button, isn't it?

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Well maybe Kobach will go down the same path Taff did

We can only hope, eh?

I didn't know that about military folks. Interesting.

The other thing I forgot to mention is that these kids must have already applied for citizenship to get the instate tuition rate. So for many, by the time they graduate, they will be US citizens. And how can these racists criticize any program that actually encourages these kids to become US citizens?

Well I guess if they don't want any more brown skinned Hispanic people in the state of Kansas, then it is logical to oppose this policy. :eyes:

But the bottom line for me is - as a teacher I cannot oppose any plan that makes higher education affordable for the kids in Kansas. As for those kids who aren't residents and want to get resident tuition rates, they have two choices -
1. move to Kansas
2. go to school in the state where they are residents.

Seems simple enough to me.