A panel discussion scheduled for Wednesday at Emory University will explore how immigrant students living without legal status in Georgia can get a college education.
Freedom at Emory, which aims to make the university more accessible to these students, is joining the Emory College Council and TedxEmory to present the discussion.
Entitled “Freedom Fighters Speak: Undocumented Youth and Higher Education in Georgia,” the event is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Harland Cinema in the Dobbs University Center at Emory.
Students who have been granted a special reprieve from deportation through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program are barred from attending any Georgia institution that has not enrolled all of its academically qualified applicants for the previous two years. That prohibition now applies to the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and Georgia State, Georgia Regents and Georgia College and State universities.
Georgia's University System also bars such students from paying in-state college tuition rates, which are several thousand dollars below the out-of-state rates. In June, a Fulton County Superior Court judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking to reverse that policy. The 39 plaintiffs are now appealing to the Georgia Court of Appeals.
Opponents say taxpayer-funded benefits should be reserved for those who have legal status in the U.S. Supporters say it makes sense to offer the lower in-state tuition rates to Georgia students who could contribute more to the state’s economy after boosting their skills in college.
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