The Georgia General Assembly will consider denying undocumented immigrants in-state tuition at Georgia colleges when they reconvene next year, according to outgoing Sen. Sam Zamarripa, D-Atlanta.

Mr. Zamarripa, the highest-ranking Latino elected official in Georgia, spoke last month at a public forum about immigration organized by the Regional Atlanta Civic League, which aims to improve regional public policy by engaging Atlanta citizens in the discussion of topical issues.

In an interview with GlobalAtlanta after the forum, Mr. Zamarripa said that passing a law that would make undocumented residents of Georgia pay out-of-state tuition fees to attend college would likely keep those individuals out of post-secondary institutions.

Tuition fees for non-residents can be up to $16,000 more per year than for residents, depending on the university, and many undocumented students come from low-income families that would be unable to pay such fees. Their non-resident status would also prevent them from applying for financial aid.

“It’s mean, cruel and immoral to punish young men and women for the sins of their parents, and it doesn’t do the state any good,” Mr. Zamarripa told GlobalAtlanta.

Keeping undocumented immigrants out of Georgia colleges is likely to have a negative economic impact on the state, according to Felix Rioja, associate professor of economics at Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, which houses the Regional Atlanta Civic League.

Dr. Rioja, who also participated in the recent forum, cited a 1997 report on the fiscal impact of immigration nationwide that found that immigrants with only a high school education are estimated to have -$31,000 impact throughout their lifetime, compared to college-educated immigrants who leave a positive impact of $105,000 over their lifetimes.

Mr. Zamarripa, who prefers to let university presidents decide who should receive in- and out-of-state tuition fees, also noted that it would be wasteful for the state to discourage undocumented immigrants from enrolling in college, since Georgia would have already spent tax monies to educate those students at the high school and perhaps even elementary school levels.

Federal law requires states to provide all of their minors, documented and undocumented, with an education from kindergarten through 12th grade.

Legislation regarding post-secondary education for undocumented immigrants varies from state to state, however.

Georgia law follows federal law implemented in 1996 that prohibits undocumented immigrants from receiving public services such as a post-secondary education.

But since the law gives states the final say as to which public services will be made available to undocumented residents, 10 states, including California and Texas, have enacted laws that allow all high school graduates who have attended school there for a certain number of years, regardless of their immigration status, to be eligible for in-state fees at public post-secondary institutions.

Legislators in the U.S. Senate are attempting to reconsider federal laws on post-secondary education for undocumented immigrants as a part of a comprehensive immigration reform bill that was drafted earlier this year.

Included in the bill is the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, or DREAM Act, which offers undocumented students a pathway to citizenship through two years of post-secondary study.

Debate on the bill is expected to continue when a Democratic-led Congress reconvenes next year.

Mr. Zamarripa said he was hopeful that new leadership in Congress would bring with it long-overdue reform of the nation’s immigration policies.

Last spring, Mr. Zamarripa negotiated with Republican legislators to get a less controversial version of Senate Bill 529 drafted, which aimed to make Georgia a less appealing destination to unlawful immigrants by restricting them from access to state services.

After serving for two years as a state senator, Mr. Zamarripa did not run for re-election this year. He plans to stay involved in Atlanta’s immigrant community, while working as managing partner of the local international investment firm Heritage Capital Advisors LLC.

Mr. Zamarripa and Dr. Rioja were two of nine local professionals working closely with immigration issues who made presentations during the civic league’s recent forum. Dr. Rioja’s presentation included information from the report he helped to write entitled, “The Demographics of Georgia IV: Hispanic Immigration Economic Policy Issues,” which was published in March.

In addition to hosting future discussions on immigration, the Regional Atlanta Civic League also plans to address financing problems for regional transportation improvements and to develop a regional issues curriculum for other neighborhood groups and organizations.

For more information about the civic league, contact Elisabeth Zaloznik, policy and programs director, at (404) 463-1390 or rcleaz@langate.gsu.edu.