Let them learn

Make in-state tuition accessible to all state grads

It’s been referred to the Arkansas House of Representatives’ Education Committee for review, but our hope is House Bill 1684 to make more Arkansas students eligible for in-state tuition at the state’s universities and colleges is well on its way to become law.

Sponsored by Repub- lican Rep. Dan Douglas of Bentonville and Democrat Megan Godfrey of Springdale, the bill rec- ognizes the existence of a class of students in Arkansas who today are denied access to higher education, at least in an affordable way that their classmates in the state’s high schools easily qualify for.

The legislation will establish that a state-supported institution of higher education “shall classify a student as instate for the purpose of tuition and fees applicable to all programs of study” if the student has (1) resided in the state for at least three years by the time he or she has applied for admission and (2) has either graduated from a public or private high school in Arkansas or received a high school equivalency diploma.

Who does this bill affect? It will provide more affordable access to higher education for students whose residency might be in question. That could be the child who is not a U.S. citizen but who lives here legally, perhaps with a parent who is in the country in a legal manner that’s short of full citizenship. Yes, it might also impact a child of a person who is in the country illegally, such as those who would qualify for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. Those are the kids whose parents’ legal status is in question, but the kids have been in this country for a long time. We’ve heard the stories of kids who cannot even remember their journey from a foreign land to the United States, because they were so young. For all intents and purposes, they consider the United States of America their home, because it is all they’ve ever known.

Why would Arkansas want to do this? Because these young people have come up through the state’s public school system and, in many cases, performed admirably. They have learned well. They have achieved what all Arkansans should want for them — a higher degree of knowledge.

And the state of Arkansas does not serve its own interests by creating a barrier for these students’ continued pursuit of education. Really, if Arkansas has students who live here and qualify in every sense to enter a college or university, how does it hurt our state for them to do just that? It benefits our state to have an educated population.

The bill is referring to students who have been around a while, whose parents have been working and, in most every case, have been meeting their obligations for paying taxes. The students have obtained a high school diploma every bit as valid as their classmates’.

Arkansas needs more people with higher education degrees. It is undisputed that the more knowledgeable a state’s population, the stronger the state is positioned to advance itself economically.

This bill doesn’t give anyone a free ride, but it does seek to treat all of Arkansas high school graduates the same, by letting them pay in-state tuition and fees.

Other than some misguided form of retribution for a perceived infraction by a parent, there’s little reason to deny graduating seniors of Arkansas high schools a chance to improve themselves through higher education.

Godfrey and Douglas have given the Legislature an opportunity to spread fairness across the state to hard-working students who dream of improving their fortunes. In-state tuition is the least Arkansas can offer to help all of the state’s residents strive for a better tomorrow.