The AJC editors and this reporter omit the fact that the below covered legislation does not change the existing law that requires Americans who move to Georgia to wait a year to be eligible for the instate tuition.
Because the AJC didn’t, let us tell you about tuition costs.
“For academic year 2020-2021, the average tuition & fees for Colleges in Georgia is $4,739 for in-state and $17,008 for out-of-state. The amount is lower than national average. The 2021 national average is $6,852 for in-state students and $17,943 for out-of-state students.” Here.
* HB 932 would allow refugees, foreigners here on Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) and Afghans on “humanitarian parole” to be excluded from the current state law and BOR policy that says newly arrived college students must be GA residents for 12 months before they can access the much lower instate tuition rate in Georgia’s public colleges and tech schools. (The Special Immigrant Visa grants permanent residence to foreign nationals who claim to have helped the U.S. government abroad).
HB 932 does not cover Americans and immigrants outside the above description who move to Georgia from other states– they would still be required to pay the higher tuition rate for public colleges/tech schools for the first year of their residence. HB 932 is sponsored by Republican Rep Wes Cantrell and has Democrat cosponsors. We regard HB 932 as un-American.
The Dustin Inman Society opposes HB 932.
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Lawmakers introduce bill to help refugees attend Georgia colleges
Legislation would help refugees qualify for more affordable in-state tuition rates as soon as they settle in the state.
Members of the Georgia House rolled out legislation earlier this month that would boost refugees’ access to public higher education in the state.
House Bill 932 seeks to extend in-state tuition rates to refugee students at the University System of Georgia and the Technical College System of Georgia as soon as they settle in the state. Under U.S. law, refugees are people who must relocate from their home country because of humanitarian concerns.
HB 932 would similarly extend immediate access to in-state tuition to Afghan citizens who have humanitarian parole, as well as to Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) recipients. These are individuals who have worked for or on behalf of the U.S. government in Afghanistan or Iraq. Benefiting from any of the aforementioned immigration programs means recipients are living in Georgia lawfully. Currently, they must abide by a one-year waiting period after settling in Georgia to establish residency and qualify for the lower in-state tuition rates, which are roughly three times smaller than their out-of-state counterparts.
“They’ve still got to get admitted, but they wouldn’t have to wait a year for the tuition rates to go down,” the bill’s main sponsor, Rep. Wes Cantrell, R-Woodstock, said. “Why not give them a little bit of a hand up to try to get their schooling started right away so that hopefully they can become a productive member of our state?”
HB 932 is the first piece of legislation to come out of a bipartisan House study committee that met last year to examine workforce development issues among foreign-born Georgians, including barriers to education and professional training.
“We currently have more jobs in Georgia available than we have people to fill them. A lot of small business owners are telling me, ‘We need access to more labor,’” Cantrell said. “All [refugees] want to do is work. They want to live the American dream.” Easing their access to education could help make that happen.
“Georgia businesses across the state are struggling with workforce shortages, and HB 932 is a much-needed tool for building the talent pipeline,” she wrote. “Georgia refugees bring skills and talents to the state from countries around the world. Many of these young people have put their education on hold due to war and conflict, and they’re eager to restart their schooling, build their skills, and get into the workforce to support themselves and their families.”
Although he views the bill, which has yet to be heard in committee, as a “no brainer,” Rep. Cantrell says he has already registered significant pushback. He is not “overconfident” it will pass, in part because of how polarizing discussions on immigration-related issues can be…. The rest here.
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