Badger E.& Yale-Loehr S. (2005), Undocumented Students and Eligibility for Enrollment at U.S. Colleges and Universities

Badger E. and
Yale-Loehr S.
(2005)
Undocumented Students and Eligibility for Enrollment at U.S. Colleges and Universities

An undocumented student is a foreign national who: (1) entered the United States without inspection or with fraudulent documents; or (2) entered legally as a nonimmigrant but then violated the terms of his or her status and remained in the United States without authorization.

All of us know of or have read about academically-gifted undocumented students educated in their state's public school system, but who are denied access to that state's public higher education institutions due to federal and state tuition and financial aid policies. In 2001, new legislation introduced in Congress provided a glimmer of hope for undocumented students. At about the same time, Mexican President Vincente Fox began to pursue a Mexican "workers rights" agenda with both President Bush and state leaders that included giving undocumented children of migrant workers who graduate from U.S. high schools the same access as legal residents to higher education. And discussions within the White House hinted at legislation that would "regularize" the status of certain undocumented individuals currently residing in the United States, including some students.

In trying to craft a responsible answer to the question of undocumented students' eligibility to attend U.S. colleges, there are multiple perspectives, based on an understanding of immigration law, education law, state law, the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), ethics, and campus institutional policies. The challenge is to balance all of these considerations in an area that has few real answers. For those of us employed by U.S. colleges and universities, a further challenge is to offer guidance on this subject while maintaining that delicate balance between the quasi-enforcement role required by federal regulations and the helping role that is basic to the relationship between educators and students.