The Utah Coalition on Illegal Immigration has asked Utah state legislators to carefully consider whether they should continue a special in-state tuition program for illegal aliens at a time the state’s higher education system is facing a budget shortfall of over $60 million dollars.
Education officials have told legislators that unless additional funding is forthcoming, they may be forced to impose enrollment caps and may not be able to provide classes that students need to graduate.
While education officials traditionally have argued that the illegal aliens did not pose an increased burden on the system because they were filling empty seats in classrooms, that is no longer the case.
At Utah Valley University, students reportedly end up sitting on the floor in some classes. Throughout the state's university system, classes have been eliminated making it hard for students to get the courses they need for graduation.
In spite of this, higher education officials continue to support the in-state tuition program that covers an ever-increasing number of illegal aliens at a cost of up to $4.5 million per year even though these students cannot legally work in the United States either while they are going to college or once they graduate.
Education and political officials also turn a blind eye to the fact that many of the illegal alien students openly acknowledge that they work illegally in order to cover the cost of their tuition and living expenses. Since they are illegally in the United States, these students commit up to three felonies in order to get jobs – document fraud, perjury on I-9 forms and identity fraud under Utah law.
The Coalition also advised legislators that the state of Utah faces the very real possibility that its in-state tuition program could eventually be found to violate federal law since a California court has already determined that California's in-state tuition program violates federal statute.
If that were to occur, the cost to Utah could run into the tens of millions of dollars since it would have to reimburse individuals legally in the United States who were forced to pay out-of-state tuition while illegal aliens were paying in-state tuition.
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