DOBSON — After four policy changes since 2000, the state board of community colleges hopes that its latest policy regarding illegal immigrants will stick.

On Friday, board members voted to admit illegal immigrants at community college campuses providing they have graduated from a U.S. high school and will pay out-of-state tuition, which runs around five times the rate of in-state tuition.

This decision overrules the May 2008 decision to not admit illegal immigrants to North Carolina community colleges. The board decided at that time to hire a consultant to review policies in place in other states before making any further rulings. The report released in April said that state would make more than it spends on each enrolled illegal immigrant if they paid out-of-state tuition, according to the Associated Press (AP).

The committee members who voted on the proposal hope to see it in effect for next spring, however, it must first make it through the administrative rule process which is defined by the administrative code’s flow chart. According to Dr. Deborah Friedman, president of Surry Community College, this process could take anywhere between six and 12 months to complete. It will also include a forum for public comments, though those dates have not been released yet.

“Being a part of the community college system, our role is to follow whatever policies are in place,” said Friedman of SCC’s role. “I will just wait and see. I don’t know if it will pass or not.”

These changes have been recommended to put the focus on children who are illegally brought into the country by their parents, meaning they did not have a say in the decision. These students would not be able to qualify for financial aid and would have a lower priority for admission than U.S. citizens.

“The community college system was put into place to meet the needs of the community. We try to define what is in the best interest of the people we serve,” said Friedman of the difficulties of the continuously changing policy. “They will try to get a policy in place so we can be consistent.”

According to the AP, there are around 800,000 students in North Carolina’s community colleges. During the 2007-08 school year, the system had 111 illegal immigrants enrolled under exceptions for students studying in GED programs or for refugees and other federally qualified immigrants.

The guidelines in the new policy are similar to those in place for the University of North Carolina campuses.

Contact Morgan Wall at mwall@mtairynews.com or 719-1929.