Regents committee tackles how to check residency of students

A Board of Regents committee will meet Monday to discuss how to check the residency of students at Georgia's public universities, including those in the country illegally.

The Special Committee on Residency Verification will hold its first meeting at 11:30 a.m. in Atlanta. Most of the dozen members will attend by phone.

The politically sensitive issue of residency landed on the regents' plate after a Kennesaw State University student was found to be in the country illegally and paying in-state tuition. The rate for Georgia residents is about three-times cheaper than out-of-state tuition. The girl was brought to the United States illegally by her parents when she was 10 and attended high school in metro Atlanta.

Earlier this month, the regents decided to reaffirm that Georgia will deny waivers for in-state tuition to any student in the country illegally, and they voted to change their written policy. They also agreed to require a review of all applications for admission for this fall to determine whether undocumented students are receiving benefits they're not entitled to.

This week, a group of GOP state senators wrote to the regents, telling them not only should they deny in-state tuition to illegal immigrants, they also should bar them completely from public universities. That's because even out-of-state tuition doesn't cover the full cost of the education and is subsidized by taxpayers, said Sen. Don Balfour (R-Snellville).

"We have received the letter and we appreciate the senators' concerns and interest, and we will certainly be taking their concerns under advisement in terms of the committee's work," said regents spokesman John Millsaps.  The university system carefully calculated its out-of-state rate and it does cover the full cost of instruction, Millsaps added.

Some states, such as South Carolina, bar illegal immigrants from attending public colleges. Texas and 10 other states allow illegal immigrants to pay the lower in-state tuition.