Fields: Legislature Pushing a Tuition Scam
BY SAM FIELDS
This week the Florida legislature voted down a law that would have guaranteed in-state tuition rates to the children of illegal aliens – a savinhgs of thousands of dollars.
It applies even when the kids were born in the U.S. and have lived in Florida all their lives.
I am glad they voted that down.
It’s not because the proposed law was a bad idea. It’s because the law is unnecessary.
Charging kids living in Florida out-of-state tuition just because of their parents is unconstitutional.
The 14th Amendment makes it clear that regardless of who their parents are, if these kids were born in the U.S., they are American citizens like the rest of us.
If they are American citizens then, by virtue of living in the Sunshine State, they are lawful Florida state residents. If they are residents they are entitled to all the benefits of Florida residency—which includes in-state tuition.
It does not matter who is paying the tuition tab. I am sure that thousands of kids in Florida college kids have their tuition paid by out of state friends and relatives who have never been Florida residents.
If you are a Florida resident you are entitled to in-state tuition even if the bill is being paid by your rich uncle who lives in Kazakhstan. It does not matter that he has never spent a day in the U. S. much less Florida.
It’s about the legal status of the prospective student and not the legal status of his or hers benefactor.
The Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution guarantees exactly what the phrase means: “EQUAL PROTECTION”.
There is no way that a university pay plan, which says that when it comes to college tuition “all citizen/residents are equal…but some citizen/residents are more equal than others” meets Constitutional muster.
The idea that you want to financially punish some because you don’t like their parents is not only a repugnant idea. More importantly it is a direct violation of Article III Section 3 of the United States Constitution that prohibits laws based on “Corruption of the Blood”?
Wha????
Corruption of the Blood was an ancient system that punished kids for what the parents did. Long ago England outlawed this. That prohibition was incorporated into our Constitution.
Sounds like the current Florida tuition system violates that.
Some enterprising lawyer needs to take up the case. If it is brought as a civil rights violation, it means big time attorney’s fees.
That might wake up the jerks in Tallahassee.
February 21st, 2012 at 12:34 pm
When a student goes to college and applies for a scholarship or any other financial aid, they look at the parent’s ability to pay, not the student’s. This has been standard practice for decades, maybe even since Sam Fields went to college. Nobody has been able to challenge this practice so I am going to go out on a limb and say there is probably good case law allowing it. So, if settled case law allows this type of discrimination, why not allow the children of illegal aliens to be charged the full fare?
February 21st, 2012 at 1:23 pm
Fields is smarter than all the lawyers in the Legislature and all the judges in courts. The voters didn’t think that. How many times did you run for office and lost, Fields?
February 21st, 2012 at 1:46 pm
@Sam the Sham
While i agree, with the notion that there is probably case law allowing this discrimination, that doesn’t make it acceptable or right. And in this particular instance the parents’ (or whoever’s) ability to pay is irrelevant, it’s simply about meeting the basic requirements for in-state tuition, then being denied on a technicality.
February 21st, 2012 at 4:20 pm
If the simple requirements to receive instate tuition are changed (or retained) to requiring legal residency status, then your argument is moot. The state can set any regulation it wants in regards to its university system. There might be a challenge from students born in this state, but not by otherwise, illegal residents. Further, I might be persuaded to give instate tuition rates to people born here of illegal aliens, but with one proviso. That would be that their illegal parents voluntarily deport themselves.
February 22nd, 2012 at 7:44 am
Dear Sham,
If you were a lawyer you would not write absurd things like this.
The issue is not means testing which is perfectly legal. The issue is eligibility for a government benefit based on your parent’s legal status even though you are yourself otherwise qualified.
If American citizens of illegal aliens can be denied in-state tuition why, if otherwise qualified, can’t we also deny them: 1. the right to vote 2. run for office. 3.Medicaid 4. Driver’s licenses 5. Professional licenses 6. Attending public colleges or for that matter public schools all together.
Leave the “case law” to lawyers, you are embarrassing yourself.
February 22nd, 2012 at 10:34 am
I am not a lawyer and never said or intimated I was. You say means testing is legal but I say it is still unconstitutional because you should not be penalized by the wealth of your parents, nor should you be enriched because of their lack of wealth.
I know you are loathe to admit to a lowly non-lawyer such as myself, that you need remedial reading lessons, but I suggest you go back and re-read my posts and while you are at it, maybe the US Constitution as well.
February 22nd, 2012 at 10:44 am
I think this action shows that the Republicans who control the Florida Legislature are not only meanspirited (which they have made obvious over and over) but also stupid.
Apparently all these so-called smart legislators have never heard of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which states, in part, “no state shall … deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Nor do they seem to be aware of the fact that a child born in the United States is a citizen by federal statute, no matter the status of his or her parents.
February 22nd, 2012 at 4:56 pm
Dear Sham
So you don’t think the government should discriminate benefits on the basis of wealth?
I guess that means millionaires should be entitled to Food Stamps and welfare.How about free school lunches and Section 8 housing.
Donald Trump on Medicaid. Ummmh?
February 22nd, 2012 at 6:14 pm
Poor Sam, still struggling with reading comprehension?
February 23rd, 2012 at 5:08 pm
So, why don’t you take up their case, Sam?
February 25th, 2012 at 5:20 pm
Sam. It is plain and simple. If you are a legal U.S. Citizen and are a resident of State of Florida for the required amount of time, welcome to the college with in-state tuition. If you are not either then you need to become a U.S. Citizen and you will pay out-of-state tuition until then. No problem with that. Suck it up and file for proper documentation and save your money. It’s about RESPONSIBILITY . Not Republican vs. Democrat.