TOPEKA — A Kansas Senate committee on Wednesday killed a bill to deny eligibility for in-state tuition to children of undocumented immigrants at Kansas universities, colleges and trade schools.
H.B. 2006, which easily passed the House, hit a wall at the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee, which voted overwhelmingly not to recommend it for passage.
The senators voted after an often-tearful hearing, featuring several young women who were brought to the United States as children, graduated from Kansas high schools and attended Kansas colleges.
Current law allows such students to qualify for resident tuition at Kansas colleges if they attend a Kansas high school for three years and graduate, and also meet the academic qualifications for college admission. They can receive no federal or state financial aid, but can compete for private-sector scholarships.
Opponents of the bill testifying in person and in writing included the Board of Regents, Kansas Association of School Boards and the bishops of the Catholic, Episcopal, Evangelical Lutheran and United Methodist churches of Kansas.
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