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RALEIGH — North Carolina community college officials appear willing to reconsider a ban on admitting illegal immigrants, as they look for a way to balance students’ educational needs with issues of fairness.

The State Board of Community Colleges on Thursday met to discuss a July decision from the Department of Homeland Security, which said the federal government does not bar community colleges from admitting illegal immigrants.

During the discussion, several members indicated that they are interested in revising the community college systems’ current policy, which restricts admission to students who are in the country legally.

Officials established that restriction in May because they were concerned that allowing illegal immigrants to attend school — even if they were charged more expensive out-of-state tuition — violated federal law.

With the system of 58 community colleges free to set its own policy, board president Scott Ralls said members should consider easing that rule to afford all children an opportunity to get an education.

“I have difficulty with the notion of punishing minors for the actions of their parents,” Ralls said.

Ralls noted that less than one-half of 1 percent of the system’s approximately 800,000 students — 112 at last count — are illegal immigrants and out-of-state tuition more than covers the cost of a student’s education.

Board member Stuart Fountain said officials should, at a minimum, implement the same admission policy of the UNC system.

The UNC system allows illegal immigrants to attend school if they have graduated from a U.S. high school, pay out-of-state tuition and do not receive government financial aid.

A more restrictive policy which requires community college admissions employees to verify applicants’ status would be nearly impossible, said Van Wilson, the college system’s associate vice president for academic and student services.

Wilson said there are no systems designed to check students’ residency status and that requiring staff to conduct the “very labor intensive” checks would be burdensome.

The N.C. Association of College Presidents asked the board to revert to the system’s previous “open door” policy that allowed any person, regardless of educational background or legal status, to be admitted.

N.C. Association of Educators President Sheri Strickland also sent board members a letter saying teachers are concerned that their students will not be able to further their education if they are not legal residents.

In an interview Thursday, Rockingham Community College President Robert Keys said his school would abide by whatever decision is finally made.

But after nearly 40 years in education, Keys said he believes an open-door policy is the foundation of the community college system.

“The fact is that these people are here,” Keys said. “We have to ask, 'Do we want them here without an education, or with an education and a degree, with which they can be better citizens?’”

But Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue — an ex-officio member of the committee who joined Thursday’s meeting by conference call — urged the board to hold off on changing the ban. She urged the board to retain the current policy and give members ample time to study the issue.

“I think for us to change course ... in the middle of this stream to me borders on the point of being absurd,” Perdue said.

Officials have changed the state’s community college admissions standards four times during the past eight years.

Perdue, the Democratic candidate for governor, and her Republican counterpart, Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, oppose allowing illegal immigrants to attend community colleges.

For now, the directive restricting community college admission to legal residents remains in place.

The board will meet again Friday to discuss the system’s admission standards and will likely vote on a measure that would allow the community college system to hire an outside consultant to study admission practices in other states.

Fountain said members need more information before they can craft a new admissions policy to answer the illegal immigrant question.

He said he’s interested in learning how other states verify which students are legal residents.
The study means it will take several months before a new, permanent admissions policy is created, Fountain said.

“There are too many unanswered questions bouncing around,” he said.

Staff write Joe Killian contributed to this report.