KFDA - NewsChannel 10 / Amarillo News, Weather, SportsCollege funds for illegal immigrants stirring up debate

College funds for illegal immigrants stirring up debate

Amarillo, TX - Illegal immigrants in colleges across the state and right here in the Panhandle are receiving funding grants meant for Texas residents and not everyone is happy about it.

Illegal immigrants who do well in high school are not only eligible for lower-cost, in-state tuition rates at Texas universities. Legislation signed by Gov. Rick Perry allows public funds from the TEXAS Grant program to also be given out to immigrants.

"There are students who are undocumented and they are benefiting from this rule," says Robert Austin, Vice President of Amarillo College. "We really don't have any say on how these rules are established or how they get written."

These policies include House Bill 1403, which under certain criteria, permits illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition.

TEXAS Grants, a need-based grant program that covers tuition and fees at most institutions, is only available to Texas residents. But according to one rule, all a student has to do is hold a high school diploma and live in the state for 3 or more years to become eligible to receive funding.

"It's obviously caused some controversy," Austin said. "This information is advertised to the public and what we've done here at Amarillo College is simply follow those rules."

According to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which monitors the implementation of such legislation, the state distributed 2,156 TEXAS grants in 2010 to students who had established residency under those provisions.

The total amount of awards totaled more than $7.8 million.

Austin says there are no loopholes when it comes to funding for immigrants because the rules and regulations are defined and accessible to everyone. He says the real issue is not who's receiving the money, it's how much money the state is able to distribute.

"You don't have to look far to see that in the most recent legislative session, TEXAS grant was cut substantially," he said.

For more information on House Bill 1403, visit http://www.legis.state.tx.us

For more information on TEXAS grants, visit  http://www.collegefortexans.com