Letters page

A group of 13 Oregon legislators has introduced legislation (House Bill 2787 and Senate Bill 10) on both sides of the state Capitol that would grant in-state tuition to a special interest group of international students illegally in the country.

One of the great misnomers used by proponents of in-state tuition for international students illegally in the country is to describe both pieces of legislation as “tuition equity” when what both HB 2787 and SB 10 would do is to exclude those same benefits to legal lifelong American citizens in neighboring states.

Problematic with the mirrored House and Senate bills is that neither one has a sunset clause that would limit the number of illegal international students who could receive in-state tuition in the future. A lack of a sunset clause if either piece of legislation becomes state law will place a heavy economic burden on Oregon’s higher education system, cause an increase in tuition rates for students attending the state’s public universities, and cause an increased taxpayer burden to support state’s higher education system.

Crunching some numbers from neighboring Western Oregon University, for years 2012-2013, the estimated undergraduate tuition and fees (15 credits per term) for an Oregon resident is $8,529 per year, while an international student is $21,114 per year. Under both HB2787 / SB10, WOU would be required to cut individual tuition and fees costs for illegal international students attending the university by $12,585 per year.

WOU would lose over a four-year period for every illegal international student attending the university $50,340.

Also problematic with the mirrored legislation is the limited amount of years that would be required for illegal international students to spend in Oregon’s public schools to receive the benefit of instate tuition. A time of just three years attending an Oregon high school or getting a GED at a local community college is not long enough for them or their foreign national parents, likewise illegally in the country, to have contributed enough in taxes to the bricks and mortar, the infrastructure, of Oregon’s higher education system to merit in-state tuition.

Although Oregon taxpayers are often generous when it comes to the issues surrounding funding K-12 and higher education, what might be considered as real “tuition equity” by the state’s taxpayers is that illegal international students must have completed at a minimum of K-12 in the state’s public education system to be eligible to receive in-state tuition.

A final recognizable flaw with the House and Senate bills is they fail to put students who are United States citizens in the state (residents), students who are U.S. citizens from other states (non-residents), and students who are foreign nationals (legal international students with visas from their countries of origin) first in line to attend Oregon’s public four-year universities, particularly in limited enrollment programs.

Students legally present in the country should always be given first priority to enroll in the state’s public universities.

Oregonians should contact their state representative and senator and tell them to “Vote No” on both HB 2787 and SB 10, in-state tuition for a special-interest group of international students illegally in the country.

I find it interesting and hypocritical that the liberal anti-gun letter to the editor writers are objecting to the many sheriffs and local law enforcement officials stating their position on gun laws if they feel they infringe on the Second Amendment.

They are simply following the example of our president, Barack Hussein Obama, as he selects which duly passed federal laws he chooses to enforce.

Obama has shown that if he doesn’t like a duly passed federal law, he will instruct his henchman, Attorney General Holder, not to enforce the law (selective enforcement).

Immigration and the Defense of Marriage Act are two good examples, and for political reasons, he does not mind telling the press of his decisions not to enforce these laws.

Our local law enforcement professionals are simply following this splendid example that President Obama has established.

In addition, Attorney General Holder has made it abundantly clear that federal laws are the federal government’s responsibility to enforce. He has even gone as far as suing the state of Arizona to keep them from enforcing current federal immigration laws and has threatened other states of the same.

If we take this premise to be correct, then it would be up to the federal government to enforce any federal gun laws passed by the federal government, not the local sheriff. Obama and Holder set the ground rules, not our local sheriffs.

Chuck McNeil

Corvallis

Oregonians looking at the future cost of attending, furthermore, funding Oregon’s public four-year colleges and universities should be concerned about State Representative Bob Jenson’s support of legislation (House Bill 2787) that would grant in-state tuition for international students illegally in the country.

Crunching some numbers from Oregon State University (OSU), for years 2012-2013, the estimated undergraduate tuition and fees (15 credits per term) for an Oregon resident is $8,139 per year, while an international student is $22,323 per year.

Under HB 2787, OSU would be required to cut individual tuition and fees costs for illegal international students attending the university by $14,184 per year.

The result of the legislation becoming law, OSU would lose over a four-year period for every illegal international student attending the university $56,736.

Rep. Jenson’s support of instate tuition for illegal international students reveals a state legislator lacking a sense of fiduciary responsibility to his voting constituents, moreover, the state’s higher education system.

Oregonians’ should contact Rep. Jenson (Rep.BobJenson@state.or.us) and ask him the following question: Representative, who is going to make up the tuition shortfall at Oregon’s public four-year colleges and universities if instate tuition for international students illegally in the country becomes law?

The quickest way to befriend a child is to hand them candy. Want to assure a permanent life-long supporter of liberal policies? Hand out government subsidized programs. That's exactly the motive behind the "Tuition Equity" bill that has been adopted in many states and is now coming before the newly left-winged majority legislature of Oregon.

What so many fail to ask when advocating government handouts such as food stamps, housing vouchers, health care or reduced college tuition for children of illegal immigrants is: at whose expense will these programs be covered?

In the case of Oregon House Bill 2787, which proposes allowing children of illegal immigrants residing in Oregon to benefit from in-state tuition at publicly-funded universities, it is my mother and father who will shoulder the financial burden.

I am a sophomore at Oregon State and one of the 8,906 out-of-state students currently attending the university. Compared to an Oregon resident who pays roughly $8,000 annually in tuition, my parents foot a $22,000 bill each year. My tuition is substantially higher to help compensate the Oregon taxpayer for the use of the bricks and mortar, the cost of faculty and administrator salaries, pensions and benefits, and maintenance and upkeep of the campus grounds.

Illegal immigrants whose children attend Oregon high schools are not paying taxes to cover the expenses for Oregon public universities either. If these individuals wish to have their child attend an Oregon university, I believe they ought to pay out-of-state tuition just as my parents do.

The parents of these children, who entered this country illegally, are either being paid their wages in cash, as part of the "underground economy," or by check from employers who are not withholding the income taxes they must take from legitimate, legal workers. Additionally, their children are attending public grade schools and high schools that are paid for by property and state income taxes of legal residents.

What is "fair and equitable" about that?

People break the laws of the United States when they immigrate to our country illegally. The children these individuals bring with them become a financial burden to the community in which they reside with impunity. This is not to say these children are at fault; many are excellent citizens that work hard academically and in their community. That however, is irrelevant. As an out-of-state student, I do all that I can to help lessen the financial burden my parents reap because of my choice to attend college outside of California. I wait tables, am a paid reporter for my campus newspaper, and must keep an exemplary GPA to earn and maintain an $8,000 tuition reduction. Nevertheless, it is still my parents who shoulder the greatest cost.

I don't believe my hard-working, self-employed parents should face increasing tuition hikes to cover the certainty of burgeoning expenses at my university due to sky rocketing enrollment of "Tuition Equity" students. As availability becomes more affordable, enrollment and the need for more faculty, administrators, bricks and mortar will increase. This will all be at a cost to the Oregon tax payer.

Shifting the cost for the child of an illegal immigrant to attend college to me and my parents is not tuition equity, but rather confiscation and redistribution. These high school students can do exactly as I have done: get multiple jobs, work exceptionally hard in school, and if need be, take longer than some to graduate. This legislation is about giving candy to a child, and future voter, to befriend them. It is about giving government mandated "goodies" to young, largely Hispanic future voters most likely to support the liberal agenda. It sickens me to watch the theft and manipulation of law-abiding Americans by politicians to feed their political agendas.

This legislation is a veiled attempt to create a permanent voting block indebted to one political party for yet another government hand out.

Gabriella Morrongiello is a sophomore at Oregon State University, and chairman of the OSU Young Americans for Freedom