In my circle, parents don't send children. Young adults go where they can.

And I'm not suggesting there be a welfare program for my young friend. I'm suggesting that is isn't fair that she and others like her who play by the rules can't attend at out of state or in state rates. Yet, an illegal may be able to.

Except for the requirement that she has "Financial evidence that shows you or your parents who are sponsoring you have sufficient funds to cover your tuition and living expenses during the period of your intended study"

If you have the money to send your child "abroad" to college, you certainly should have the means to prove that you can pay for the tuition semester.

Otherwise, getting a degree in your own country will have to suffice. Do we need another welfare program for international students?

Except for the requirement that she has "Financial evidence that shows you or your parents who are sponsoring you have sufficient funds to cover your tuition and living expenses during the period of your intended study"

@ lunacy,

An F-1 student visa costs a $100.oo non-immigrant visa application fee; the application forms themselves are free and available online, and two visa photos are under $10 most places. Affording the visa should be the least of a prospective international student's financial burdens.

And if they've got the academic chops and aren't displacing a citizen or legal resident who's equally or better qualified, I think they shouldn't be barred from post-secondary education either, so long as they don't depend on public assistance or financial aid to which they aren't entitled.

I've quoted you and linked to you here.

If they chose to break more laws by committing forgery and fraud then we get a better look at what kind of people they are then don't we.

WTF?

Where is the line in the sand? How many f#$%$#g laws do they have to break before we say enough is enough?

I have a young Canadian friend who can't afford to attend one of our local colleges because 1. she can't afford the visa. 2. if she could afford the visa it would still take forever, 3. she has to prove that she has the huge tuition fee up front. And I assure you it is far more than my son's tuition, who is local and far more than out-of-state tuition.

How is that fair to those who play by the rules?

And how does it behoove a local college to bend the rules for some but not for others?

I'm all for immigration. And I'm for reasonable immigration laws. But I must admit I have a hard time with the rationalization that those who do abide the rules (fair or not) get the short end of the stick, while those who don't play by the rules get rewarded.

Also, the previous post on immigrants in NC since the 70s, are you speaking of those from the north (but in the borders) or those from the south (outside the borders).

If we raise the driver's license fee to say, $900- is it then OK to give them one if they can pay it?

But I see no real problem if they are footing the bill.

All of the comments about letting these people have access to higher education and thus the benefits of opportunity would apply. But there is still the problem that these people have an outstanding issue with the law.

When I went to college (back at the dawn of time as my children will tell you) the university had a policy that prohibited you from signing up for the next semester if you had any outstanding traffic tickets. There was a challenge to it that such a policy amounted to a presumption of guilt on the offense, so it was changed to you needing to either have the tickets resolved, be currently pursuing your legal options to have the tickets dismissed or be within the grace period between the offense and when you have to either plead no contest/pay the fine or challenge the ticket.

In short the university policy was geared to not allow continued enrollment by those who had on going criminal legal issues. Now this was much more petty legal issues and had much more to do with the university trying to bring order to the chaos of tens of thousands of students and limited parking spaces. But the principle is the same.

Why should the colleges be forced to accept people who have a problem with the law. Should they also be forced someone who is wanted on outstanding warrants for rape? An employer who hires an illegal alien is subject to fines. Why should a college be forced to accept an illegal alien.

What this comes down to is a question of respect for the law. It may be like prohibition that you have a law sufficiently unpopular and unenforceable that it needs to be repealed. I will leave that question to the public debate on what we do about current, past and future illegal immigration. But while it is the law, saying that we will identify one class of crime to be ignored by officials is not the answer.

Any policy that would require a service provider to only give benefits to legals would have to have a mechanism to confirm the status of all service-seekers. That is an added cost to the institution and perhaps to taxpayers and/or legitimate service-seekers.

Further, if we really want to have services provided only to legals, we really need a national ID card. Last time I checked, that was a non-starter.

At a minimum, any process that requires proof of legality will ultimately inconvenience the vast, vast majority of us who are legal.

(And by "service" I don't just mean government services. There was an attempt in Georgia, for example, to stop illegals from sending money home by having grocery stores and other which wire money to confirm the legal status of the service-seekers).