A provision in Gov. Jim Doyle's 2009-'11 executive budget proposal would allow certain illegal immigrants in Wisconsin to pay in-state tuition at UW campuses.
According to budget documents, undocumented residents would receive nonresident tuition remission if they graduated from Wisconsin high schools, attended high school in the state for at least three years and provided proof that they would apply for citizenship as soon as they were eligible to do so.
Doyle has included similar provisions in three previous budgets, but the state Legislature removed them before passage.
Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities chair Rep. Kim Hixson, D-Whitewater, said the Illegal Immigrant Reform and Immigrant Reconciliation Act of 1996 may conflict with Doyle's proposal because it would require the state to grant all U.S. citizens in-state tuition as well.
""Then we couldn't charge out-of-state tuition, and out of state tuition is very important to the university because it [not only] pays for that student's education, but also it subsidizes Wisconsin citizens' education,"" Hixson said.
Currently, 10 other states have laws permitting undocumented citizens who meet certain requirements to pay in-state tuition at public universities.
According to documents from the National Immigration Law Center, the requirements undocumented residents must meet to pay in-state tuition—such as graduating from Wisconsin high schools—prevent such laws from contradicting the federal law.
The UW Board of Regents has previously taken a position in favor of the proposal and in 2007, former regent Jesus Salas resigned when the state budget passed without this provision.
