I’m not happy about illegal immigration. Not that I don’t sympathize with the plights of some of the people who are living amongst us without documentation. But the pragmatic side of me says that, to put it simply, there are just too many economic and social costs associated with an influx of people with limited skills, especially given the current state of our economy.

That said, education is the one area where states should turn a blind eye to immigration status and encourage any student who is capable of going on to college to do so. Not only have several states blocked undocumented students from receiving in-state tuition rates and financial aid, some also have gone so far as to block admissions to their colleges. North Carolina’s State Board of Community Colleges, for instance, has just voted to retain a policy to bar undocumented students from admission and may make that decision a permanent policy.

These decisions seem short-sighted and knee-jerk reactionary when considering the potential of some of these students. Many likely will become law-abiding citizens and have the potential to live prosperously and contribute to our economy in a way that would please any fiscal conservative. In some cases, their life experiences have boosted their work ethics and appreciation for our education system in ways that most of us take for granted. If a foreign-born student can persevere to graduate from high school and gain admission to college, we should nurture that potential.

My opinions on this issue crystallized when I found out a few years ago that two long-time friends whom I met while attending the University of Maryland began school here as illegal immigrants. After attaining citizenship status and graduating college, one became an engineer and the other is pursuing his MBA while working as a computer programmer. Frankly, their lives are more prosperous than most of my native-born high school classmates.

When I visited Norcross High School in Georgia as part of ASBJ’s series on diversity, I met several immigrant students who appeared to have the drive and the grades to not only get into college, but also to prosper. Some have the means to do just that. Others—and I made a point not to inquire about their immigration status—probably will not have the means, financial or otherwise. Georgia recently banned undocumented students from receiving in-state tuition rates, which probably killed the motivation for some who are undocumented.

Unfortunately, the teachers and staff deal with this on a daily basis as they search for students with potential to take college-prep classes and plum work-study assignments. You can read more about the school and its students and faculty in September’s ASBJ.

Joetta Sack-Min, Associate Editor