Monday, June 02, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

MILLENNIUM SCHOLARSHIP: Students face citizenship question

Regents to address debate over giving government-subsidized tuition breaks to illegal immigrants

The newest crop of Millennium Scholarship qualifiers probably will face a question predecessors didn't have to answer: Are you a U.S. citizen or legal immigrant?

State Treasurer Brian Krolicki said letters are expected to go out by early summer informing more than 7,000 Nevada high school graduates that their A- and B-average grades have qualified them for up to $10,000 in college aid.

They will be asked whether they intend to use the money earmarked for expenses at the state's public higher education system. And for the first time, they would be asked to check a box regarding their citizenship or legal immigration status.

"If someone checks the box, they are wholesome in our system," Krolicki said. "If they don't check the box because their status can't permit them to, they would not be eligible for a Millennium Scholarship."

Krolicki said he plans to include the question on the form and bar illegal immigrants from receiving Millennium aid, but he must talk to Nevada higher education trustees about the moves.

The 13-member Board of Regents next meets June 18 and 19 in Reno, and Chairman Doug Seastrand said the topics may be discussed.

Krolicki, whose duties include overseeing the Millennium Scholarship program, decided to ask qualifiers the citizenship question because of the growing national debate over whether states are breaking federal law by giving government-subsidized tuition breaks to illegal immigrants who are graduates of U.S. high schools.

But he acknowledged the treasurer's office doesn't have enough resources to do background checks on the thousands of Nevada high school students who qualify each year for Millennium aid.

"It would be self-policing," Krolicki said about the box students would check.

UNLV does not require proof of U.S. citizenship or legal immigration status before affording in-state tuition rates and Millennium Scholarship benefits to students who graduate from state high schools.

Nonstate residents who are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants are not given the same subsidies in Nevada, and anti-immigration forces argue nonstate residents are legally entitled to the same benefits a state provides illegal immigrants under federal law.

California and Utah are among states under attack by anti-immigration activists.

Earlier this spring, Las Vegan Ken Record placed an advertisement in UNLV's Rebel Yell newspaper seeking feedback from students interested in possible refunds because they had "likely been overcharged" when paying out-of-state tuition.

"The ad itself is what you call a plaintiff solicitation to find people willing to raise their hand and go through with this," Record said last week.

Record said in Southern Nevada there are "in excess of 10" students who could become part of a lawsuit that may be filed by the national organization Friends of Immigration Law Enforcement.

Record, a retired businessman, said he is encouraged that Krolicki is pressing for disclosure from illegal immigrants who otherwise qualify for Millennium Scholarship aid. But he said Nevada's higher education system needs to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving state subsidies in the form of in-state tuition.

"When you put a stop to something like this, you remove a little bit of the current from the magnet that draws more immigrants to this country," Record said.

Officials with UNLV and the University and Community College System of Nevada said the institutions do not keep track of how many illegal immigrants are receiving Millennium Scholarship aid or are benefiting from in-state tuition rates.

"Under Board of Regents policy, students who graduate from a Nevada high school are considered residents, in terms of tuition," UNLV spokesman Tom Flagg said. "In other words, if they graduate from a Nevada high school, they are not charged a nonresident tuition."

Flagg said the same formula applies to Millennium Scholarship recipients, who must graduate a Nevada high school with a grade-point average of 3.0 or better.

"Out of 22,000 Millennium Scholars, there could be zero or there could be 100 or more," Krolicki said about the potential number of illegal immigrants. "I literally have no idea. Nor do I believe the school districts have that information. ... I don't believe the problem is extensive."

Emmanuelle Leal, a member of the local Student Organization of Latinos, said he has friends on Southern Nevada campuses who are illegal immigrants.

But Leal, past president of the group's community college chapter, said he thinks there aren't many illegal immigrants enrolled in college classes because so many financial hurdles get in the way of higher education.

Those who make it past high school and into college, Leal said, should not be penalized by being stripped of Millennium Scholarship aid or in-state tuition rates.

"The whole purpose of in-state tuition is to keep students in college," Leal said. "You're talking about a state that has some of the worst (high school) dropout rates in the country. You want to make it worse by preventing the students who succeed from going to college?"

Leal said it makes no sense for government to offer free public education to younger illegal immigrants but cut them off when they reach college age.

"You're a bad investor if you cut off investments before they reach their full potential," said Leal, who this fall plans to attend the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Tom Rodriguez, a Hispanic activist and Southern Nevada educator, said Nevada residents who pay sales taxes and contribute to the health of the local economy should benefit from state programs regardless of whether they can prove U.S. citizenship.

Taking away in-state tuition and Millennium Scholarship benefits from people who hope one day to become U.S. citizens "is nothing but wrong-headed thinking," Rodriguez said. "It's so absurd. It totally ignores the history of this country."

Seastrand and Regent Steve Sisolak said the Board of Regents should discuss whether Nevada's higher education system should do a better job of preventing illegal immigrants from receiving tuition breaks that are subsidized by taxpayers.

"I think we ought to take a look at it," Seastrand said. "We need to see if there's some (legal) exposure here that we should be concerned about."

About Millennium Scholarship aid going to illegal immigrants, Seastrand said, "I hate to see it get used up on someone who isn't supposed to be here."

Sisolak said clarification is needed at the federal level. Some states, like Nevada, have a don't-ask-don't-tell approach to in-state tuition going to illegal immigrants. Other states try to determine immigration and citizenship status.

"I am concerned about whether or not we're in compliance with federal law," Sisolak said. "We need uniformity among the states. It's unfair to put individual states in this position. Until we have some clarification on the federal level, I think it has to be addressed at the regent or legislative level. The issue is not going away."