Georgia colleges must check all students to see if they're legal

By Laura Diamond

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia's public colleges are expected to verify the citizenship status of nearly 316,000 students by the time the fall semester resumes in August, the chancellor's office said Friday.

Chancellor Erroll Davis sent a memo to college presidents May 26 telling them to conduct checks on all their enrolled students. That memo did not include a deadline.

"The assumption is this should all be done by this fall," university spokesman John Millsaps said Friday, following questions from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "The chancellor expects it will be done by the time students return on campus in August."

Millsaps clarified Davis' direction late Friday, after regular business hours for many colleges.

Illegal immigrants are allowed to attend Georgia's colleges, but campuses must charge them the higher out-of-state tuition rate.

College leaders earlier this week were told they were under a strict deadline to check the citizenship of only students who will be attending classes for the first time this fall. That directive was issued by the State Board of Regents Wednesday and came with a 60-day deadline.

The regents also created a new committee to examine the most efficient and cost-effective ways to check the citizenship of all students. The committee, which has an October deadline, will look at ways to prevent or catch undocumented students from getting in-state tuition.

Davis mentioned his own mandated review during the regents meeting, but did not publicly say he expected it to be completed so soon.

These reviews are in response to public outcry after it was disclosed that an undocumentedstudent at Kennesaw State University was paying in-state tuition. The reviews are to make sure illegal students don't receive taxpayer-subsidized in-state tuition or other benefits prohibited under state and federal law.

KSU officials said they were unaware the student was an illegal immigrant until after she was cited for a traffic violation in March. The student will now be charged out-of-state tuition, which is about three times as expensive. Many have argued the university should have been responsible for knowing the student's status and making sure she was charged the correct rate.

The chancellor's office did not offer colleges guidance for how to check students' immigration status. Millsaps said colleges should already have policies in place for this. But following this week's regents meeting, officials at the University of Georgia and other campuses said they were awaiting direction from the system on how to proceed.

College applicants are required to disclose their citizenship status, with undocumented students falling under the category "nonresident alien." Officials said they trust applicants to tell the truth. Should an applicant's answers raise concerns, officials ask for more documentation.

A 2009 survey from the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers found that about 20 percent of colleges verify the immigration status of all applicants. Of those who do verify, about 5 percent use national databases, such as E-Verify. The rest review documents in-house.

It is unclear how much it will cost Georgia's colleges to conduct these checks.

Students flagged during the review will be told that if they wish to continue be enrolled, they must pay the correct tuition, Millsaps said. Those discussions will occur at the campus level, he said.

Colleges will not be required to turn over the names of undocumented students to authorities, he said. Immigration attorney Charles Kuck agreed, saying student information is protected under federal law.

Georgia's admissions policy has been in place since 2006 when state lawmakers passed a bill that directed the regents to make sure universities don't grant illegal immigrants benefits prohibited under the law. Davis and the regent's attorney concluded in-state tuition is such a benefit and ordered colleges to halt providing this discount to undocumented students.

Most states follow the approach used by Georgia. Eleven states, including Texas, Illinois and California, allow these students to receive in-state tuition. South Carolina bars illegal immigrants from public colleges.

All options are permitted under guidance provided through a 2008 letter from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That letter states federal law does not bar admission, but prohibits these students from receiving publicly financed benefits, such as federal loans or work study programs. It also explained that states may adopt their own rules.

Some Georgians say it's time for a new policy.

Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren has asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to investigate the regents for possibly violating the law by admitting illegal immigrants. The GBI turned the request over to the state's attorney general.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Eric Johnson said Thursday illegal immigrants should not be allowed to attend the state's public colleges.

Davis and the regents said any policy change regarding the admission of illegal immigrants should be handled by the Georgia Legislature and elected officials.