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Backers of Tennessee in-state tuition for undocumented students say they'll try again next year
Left out in the cold as lawmakers adjourned the first session of the 109th Tennessee General Assembly on Wednesday was a group of illegal immigrant students -- brought to this country not of their own volition -- whose only sin is wanting to attend college.
A bill that would have allowed them to pay in-state tuition at Tennessee colleges and universities failed by one vote in the state House after passing the state Senate last week.
House members somehow were unable to separate the sins of their parents -- coming to the country illegally -- and the unpopular steps by President Obama -- executive actions allowing some illegals to continue to stay in the country -- from the productive citizens the students might become if they had a college education.
The difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition (and fees) is enough to keep many illegals from attending college at all. At the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, for instance, it's the difference between $8,138 and $24,256 per semester. At the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, it's the difference between $11,246 and $29,696 per semester.
The students, further, would have to have been brought to the U.S. before 2007 -- before Obama's look-the-other-way policies of the last several years allowed in scores of undocumented immigrants -- and would have to be graduates of Tennessee high schools and would have to have passed a background check under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, the Senate sponsor, saw the wisdom of offering this legislation in 2014 after listening to the needs of his constituents. We hope one more year makes a difference in its passage.