Federal officials have told North Carolina officials that it’s up to states to decide if they want to enroll undocumented students in public colleges and universities, according to the Associated Press. That message paves the way for North Carolina’s community college system to reverse a policy announced in May that barred undocumented students from community colleges. The article doesn’t say, though, if this is the step the system will take. (July 29 update: The policy will be reviewed at a Aug. 15 meeting, according to an AP article posted here.)
The North Carolina Attorney General’s office said in a letter released today that federal officials have said states “must decide for themselves whether or not to admit illegal aliens into their public post-secondary institutions,” the AP article reports.
The article quotes Jim Hermes, the senior legislative associate at the American Association of Community Colleges, as saying that while some states have considered legislation barring undocumented students from attending public institutions, none of those bills has passed.
In fact, South Carolina has recently passed legislation barring such students from its public colleges and universities. See earlier posts about this here, here, and here.