GSU to consider undocumented applicants as Trump’s deportation plans loom

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Georgia State will now consider accepting undocumented students at its Atlanta campus, and some advocates for immigrants’ rights are hailing the news as a triumph over a policy that’s been called discriminatory and segregating.
But, after years of protesting and civil unrest by activists, the state’s higher education oversight arm, the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents (BOR), hasn’t actually budged on its stance on the admission of students living without legal status in the country.

Georgia State used to be among five colleges which, due to a BOR policy created in 2010, barred undocumented immigrants from enrolling. But after two years of admitting every academically qualified applicant, the school — as well as Augusta University — was removed from that list. The University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, and Georgia College and State University will continue to uphold the ban, since they’ve turned away some students whose grades were up to par.

But Laura Emiko Soltis, executive director of Freedom University, which educates and advocates for undocumented students, said she doesn’t think this change came about merely because of Georgia State’s recent acceptance habits. She suspects that, because of Georgia State’s recent consolidation with Georgia Perimeter College (GPC), the system aimed to keep reeling in tuition cash from the undocumented students who were already attending Perimeter schools.

“GPC has the largest population of undocumented students of any Georgia university, and the [BOR] realizes that kicking out undocumented students would not be a financially good idea for them because they’re bringing in out-of-state tuition,” she said.

So next on the docket for undocumented students’ advocates is a fight to earn in-state status for migrants enrolling. This is a contentious matter — the debate has prompted three lawsuit filings against USG officials — because no one seems able to nail down exactly what it mean to be undocumented. The term applies to everyone from illegal immigrants to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.

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