Under current law, a student must be a “legal resident” of North Carolina to qualify for in-state tuition at state universities. In-state students pay far less tuition than those from out of state.

Our last issue reported that a bill had been introduced to grant in-state tuition to illegal immigrants who graduated from a high school in North Carolina.

The bill provoked a public outcry. Legislators were deluged with calls and e-mails opposing the measure. The bill died in committee without being voted on.

The “legal resident” requirement applies only to state universities, not to community colleges. They can grant in-state tuition status to illegal immigrants.

State Senator Neal Hunt (R-Wake) introduced an amendment to the state budget to prohibit illegal immigrants from receiving in-state tuition at community colleges. The amendment passed the Senate by a unanimous vote.

Governor Mike Easley, Senate leader Marc Basnight, House Speaker Jim Black, and a few other legislative leaders held a series of secret meetings in which they ironed out differences between the House and Senate versions of the budget.

Hunt’s amendment was stripped from the compromise budget that was agreed on by the legislative leaders and then approved by the House and Senate. The result is that illegal immigrants are still eligible for in-state tuition at North Carolina’s community colleges.

It appears that Easley, Black, and Basnight are in favor of in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, but were not willing to support it in an open vote. Instead, they resorted to behind-the-scenes dealing to get their way.

A recent poll conducted by the Civitas Institute reported that over 80 per cent of North Carolina voters oppose in-state tuition for illegal aliens.

This is yet another story that has been all but ignored by the mainstream media.