Regent says colleagues wrong to maintain in-state tuition rate for 'Dreamers'
A five-year veteran of the Arizona Board of Regents said Friday his colleagues are wrong to keep allowing “Dreamers” to pay the same in-state tuition at state universities as legal Arizona residents.
Regent Jay Heiler said his colleagues are acting in good faith in deciding to keep the tuition policy in place for now, and he acknowledged that a June ruling by the state Court of Appeals voiding a similar policy by the Maricopa County Community College District is being appealed to the Arizona Supreme Court.
But Heiler is distancing himself from a letter sent Thursday to the Attorney General’s Office by board President Eileen Klein on behalf of the other regents. Klein said the tuition policy for those in the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is justified and will remain. She also urged the attorney general not to sue the board but instead wait for a final ruling in the Maricopa case.
Put simply, Heiler, who is an attorney, said he believes the regents’ policy clearly violates a 2006 voter-approved law, which prohibits the use of tax dollars to subsidize the tuition of students not in this country legally.
Read more: http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2017/08/11/arizona-regent-says-colleagues-wrong-to-maintain-in-state-tuition-rate-for-dreamers/
Mr. Heiler needs to recognize that having an education pays off for the recipient of the education, regardless of their immigration status, and to taxpayers also. If the DACA recipient has been living in the borders of the state, then they should pay in-state tuition. The state will recoup the investment by adding another productive person to the workforce so that they pay taxes and otherwise stimulate the economy.