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Interactive: Where Undocumented Students Pay In-State Tuition

Just 2 percent of students enrolled in an institution of higher education in Texas are undocumented and pay in-state tuition — and most of them attend community college. Check out these students' enrollment by campus.

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Amid legislative efforts to repeal in-state tuition for undocumented students, one figure is rarely mentioned: 2 percent.

That's the portion of Texas students enrolled in an institution of higher education who are either undocumented or not permanent residents and receive the reduced rate. 

Among those students, most aren't at four-year universities; they're in community college, according to 2013 Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board data.

 

Legislation moving in the Senate — Senate Bill 1819 by Republican state Sen. Donna Campbell of New Braunfels — would repeal a 2001 provision, signed into law by then-Gov. Rick Perry, that allows some undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges and universities.

The provision grants in-state tuition to students who are neither U.S. citizens nor permanent residents if they have lived in Texas for at least three years and pledge to apply for legal status as soon as they can under federal law.

Opponents of the provision have argued that it gives people who entered the country illegally a leg up in the admissions process at schools that must turn other students away. 

Democrats and some Republicans oppose a repeal, saying it would hurt students brought into the state as children by no fault of their own, and harm Texas' future skilled workforce.

Use this interactive to see the number of undocumented students who received in-state tuition at specific universities and community colleges in 2013, and to review the 10 institutions of higher education with the largest number. (Among them, eight are community colleges.) 

For context: The two four-year universities on the top 10 list — the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas-Pan American — had about a fifth of the undocumented students on in-state tuition in the Dallas Community College District.

 
 

Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin is a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune. Find a full list of donors and sponsors here.

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