Colorado Votes Against Providing In-State Tuition to Illegal Aliens

The Colorado Senate defeated a bill on Monday that would have offered in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens. The bill was defeated 18-16 with five Democrats joining Republicans during the final vote.

Senate Bill 170 would have provided access to in-state tuition rates to any graduate of a Colorado high school regardless of immigration status. The bill, if passed, would have violated federal law, which prohibits the extension of in-state tuition benefits to undocumented students unless students from all states are eligible as well.

Nine other states, however, have passed state laws allowing illegal aliens access to in-state tuition rates – California, Oregon, Utah, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois and New York. Three states have passed laws that explicitly exclude illegal aliens from obtaining in-state tuition rates – Arizona, Georgia and South Carolina.

Wisconsin and Arkansas have pending legislation that would grant in-state tuition benefits to undocumented students, and Tennessee has pending legislation that would forbid access to in-state tuition rates.

For more on this story, see Denver’s CBS4.