INDIANAPOLIS — Hundreds of college students around Indiana have admitted to being undocumented immigrants and are being forced to pay out-of-state tuition rates that can triple their bills.
They’re facing those big jumps under laws approved by the Legislature this year taking away in-state tuition eligibility from students “not lawfully present” in the country.
About 300 students among the some 340,000 at Indiana’s seven public colleges have acknowledged they aren’t in the country legally, The Indianapolis Star reported Wednesday.
Sayra Perez, who was born in Mexico and has lived in the United States since she was 5, faced completing an electronic affidavit certifying she was a citizen or documented immigrant when she signed into her student account at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
“When I saw it, it felt really bad,” says Perez, who was among five young undocumented immigrants arrested in May during a protest of the law at Gov. Mitch Daniels’ office. “It was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I can’t believe they’re really doing it.’ ”
The tuition law is justified, supporters say, because students who are undocumented immigrants divert resources from legal residents.
Republican state Rep. Mike Karickhoff of Kokomo, who co-sponsored the tuition legislation, cites the example of his son-in-law, originally from Costa Rica, who paid out-of-state costs to go to Purdue.
