Attention, Rep Diaz: In-State College Tuition Is Not Free (… to the Taxpayer, Anyway)
For the seventh year in a row, Representative Grace Diaz (D-Providence) has submitted a bill that would, as the bill language euphemistically phrases it, “exempt” illegal immigrant students “from paying nonresident tuition at Rhode Island public universities, 8 colleges or community colleges”. In other words, illegal immigrant students would be permitted to attend Rhode Island colleges and universities and pay tuition at the much lower rate of an in-state resident.
In announcing the filing of the bill in February, Rep Diaz stated that
This does not represent any financial burden to the taxpayers
This is false. The in-state college tuition rate does not cover the cost of educating that student. The shortfall is picked up by the Rhode Island taxpayer.
At Rhode Island’s largest state university, this shortfall is considerable. In-state college tuition at the University of Rhode Island represents an unfunded gap of $12,500+ per year which must be picked up by the Rhode Island taxpayer. So we’re clear, $12,500 (the actual figure is a little higher) is just the shortfall. Add in the tuition ($9,014 for 2011) that the in-state student pays and you get $21,500+, the total cost of educating a student at URI.
Now, setting aside the larger issue of whether it is wise to create yet another enticement for people to come here illegally, let’s go back to Rep Diaz’s representation that
This does not represent any financial burden to the taxpayers
A little research quickly determined that this is untrue. Presumably, she did not deliberately lie. So the question is, why would the rep put up a bill and then make statements about its cost to the taxpayer without … you know, actually checking the facts first?
ADDENDUM – the Info Source
To clarify, the source of this data – that the shortfall of in-state tuition at URI is $12,500+ – is first hand; it came from the Provost of the University of Rhode Island, Donald DeHayes.
Never attribute to dishonesty that which can be adequately explained by stupidity and “progressive” accounting/economics. People like Diaz are so far gone mentally that they actually believe the utopian nonsense they are saying.
Selling out the citizenry of your nation to the citizenry of a foreign nation – there used to be a word for that. In Rhode Island, it’s “Representative.”
” So the question is, why would the rep put up a bill and then make statements about its cost to the taxpayer without … you know, actually checking the facts first?”
Because she’s an idiot to the nth degree. This is the same State Rep who tried to ban cellophane a few years ago. She just doesn’t put in the necessary work. Dumb and lazy.
Love the reference to Hanlon’s Razor, Dan.
Here’s why Rep. Diaz made the statement…
http://www.rwu.edu/depository/lpi/lpi-report.pdf?bcsi-ac-79FFF3A60F190A66=1CFE17B900000003WC0TzpLVBwODUOZQIZAuWQkEHnJMAQAAAwAAAL76GQAQDgAAAgAAALF+AAA=
One can only wonder how Monique arrived at her conclusion that “in-state college tuition rate does not cover the cost of educating that student” since she doesn’t bother to explain it.
btw, the comments above just tell me neither of you has ever met Rep. Diaz (my rep. and among the best folks I’ve met since moving here).
Well, I can’t fault anything that Russ wrote as when I read the paper, it says:
“According to the National Center for Education Statistics data, the
in-state tuition rate for the University of Rhode Island (URI) is $2,711
higher than the instructional expenses needed to teach each student.
If in-state tuition legislation were implemented, it would result in a net gain of 12 students, totaling 50 non-citizen undergrad students.
Even if these students were all paying in-state tuition rates, they would still contribute $135,550 over the instruction expenses needed for teaching. ”
So currently, URI charges about $9,000 a year for in-state tuitiion. According to this study, that’s $2,711 more than it costs. So URI profits by about 30%. A 30 percent markup on in-state tuition. Yet there are screams from all over when there are cuts to funding higher ed. Why? It’s already profitable. Or does that “cost” the report cites show the cost *after* the state subsidies are included? What would be the cost to educate a student at URI if they received no funding from the state?
Earlier in the study, they cited two reports that showed there is a cost to taxpayers but said they were flawed in their methodology and come from anti-immigrant organizations. That statement alone is probably flawed. Who are the “anti-immigrant” organizations? Second, what is the true cost of educating a student at URI when state subsidies are taken into account? Where is that in the report. It’s not mentioned either.
Lastly, if in-state tuition were granted to non-US citizens, universities would probably just try to recoup the difference by accepting more out of state students.
“the instructional cost”
As far as I can tell, that’s like saying taxi rides should only be $0.20/mile to meet the ‘fuel cost’.
There’s a whole lot more than ‘instructional cost’ to running a University. I don’t recall URI pumping the state coffers full of money.
“Who are the ‘anti-immigrant; organizations?”
That’s in the report… Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). There’s also an explanation of why their methodology was flawed.
Here’s the kicker…
btw, my objection was the implication that Rep. Diaz was lying, which clearly was not the case.
“There’s a whole lot more than ‘instructional cost’ to running a University. I don’t recall URI pumping the state coffers full of money.”
Progressive economists and policymakers typically ignore opportunity costs in evaluating their pet proposals, so I’m sure the opportunity cost of foregone revenue from out-of-state students that could have filled those seats is not being considered. The unintended consequence of drawing more illegal immigrants to Rhode Island will also not be considered.
“That’s in the report… Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).”
Ok, taken from the “About Us” page on FAIR’s web site:
“The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a national, nonprofit, public-interest, membership organization of concerned citizens who share a common belief that our nation’s immigration policies must be reformed to serve the national interest.”
Nothing “anti-immigration” there.
And taken from the CIS “About Us” page:
” In fact, many of us at the Center are animated by a “low-immigration, pro-immigrant” vision of an America that admits fewer immigrants but affords a warmer welcome for those who are admitted.”
So this study you cite Russ, alleges bias from the two studies as being “anti-immigrant”, but that couldn’t be further from the truth, thus putting the study you cite in the same category as they labeled the other two studies. Untrustworthy.
“Nothing ‘anti-immigration’ there.” Case closed then. On the other hand… http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2001/spring/blood-on-the-border/anti-immigration- Federation for American Immigration Reform Washington, D.C. http://www.fairus.org Founded in 1978 by John H. Tanton, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is one of the country’s best-established anti-immigration groups — and the richest beneficiary among them of the largesse of the infamous Pioneer Fund. The Fund, which has long subsidized dubious studies of the alleged links between race and intelligence, awarded FAIR $1.2 million between 1985 and 1994, according to the Institute for the Study of Academic Racism. FAIR now says that it has severed its links to the controversial Fund. Today, FAIR claims a staggering 70,000 members, although that number is almost certainly inflated. Tanton remains on FAIR’s board and also is the publisher of The Social Contract Press, which sells racist anti-immigrant tracts. Dan Stein, the group’s executive director, has warned that certain immigrant groups are engaged in “competitive breeding” aimed at diminishing white power. Rick Oltman, FAIR’s western representative, has spoken before and worked with the racist Council of Conservative Citizens. Garrett Hardin, a FAIR board member, has argued that aiding starving Africans is counterproductive and will only “encourage population growth.” Overall, FAIR blames immigrants for crime, poverty, disease, urban sprawl and increasing racial tensions in America, and calls for a drastic cut in the numbers of those allowed in. FAIR recently helped run a billboard campaign in Virginia blaming immigrants for traffic and sprawl. Last summer, FAIR attacked Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.), an Arab-American, for supporting more visas for foreigners with high-technology skills. In radio and TV ads, it said Abraham’s proposal could “make it easier for [Arab] terrorists like Osama bin Laden to export their way of terror to any street in America.” FAIR’s ads were condemned across the country and caused former… Read more »
I don’t understand. Because someone is a racist, that means they’re anti-immigrant? Here is one writer’s statements and opinions.
But back to the original point. Is URI overfunded since they are turning a profit by your numbers? Or is the Provost lying? Is is Monique misremembering?
Hey,Russ-you make good money from what I’ve deduced from reading your posts.
You live in Rep.Diaz’ district.That’s a working poor/poverty district with a few middle class families.
Are you one of those gentrifiers who force working poor out of affordable housing?
And please don’t act shocked at terms like “Judeo-Bolshevism”when you never met an “anti-Zionist”you didn’t give at least a little rhythm to.
Your incessant whining about “anti-immigrant”is stale BS.
Do all of you leftists have have implanted boilerplate devices?
Before they offer a single dollar to illegal aliens, they have to rectify a real injustice in the tuition system.
I, as a RI taxpayer, paid for my daughter’s tuition at URI. But at the end of her freshman year they informed me that she was considered an “out-of-state” student because she had lived with her mother during high school, and so my cost of educating her doubled at the stroke of a bureaucrat’s pen.
When American kids whose parents are RI taxpayers get in-state tuition, then Grace Diaz can agitate for the children of criminals, but until then she’s just another racist special pleader.
i spoke to rep. diaz about this 7 years ago. this and drivers licenses. I told her people will never accept this without provisions stating these kids will apply for legal immigration status. This bill has that language, but waters it down so much that it amounts to a paper promise and not anything of significance. This should not and will not pass without much stronger language around illegal immigrants diligently working towards becoming legal. How can they get a job with their degrees once they graduate?