Same Tuition's Problem Essay

Same Tuition’s Problem
The issue of higher education and immigration has been debated for more than a decade.     American educational system is falling to a record low level for its unprecedented low academic standard, high dropout rate, and huge economic burden (Walsh 1).   The state should require illegal immigrants to pay higher tuition should they decide to participate in public higher education, because illegal immigrants drain resources; affect the quality of public educations; and take away legal residents’ rights.   In doing so, the overall public education system may head to a right direction.
Illegal aliens have strained our education budget (Walsh 1).   Human and monetary resources are over stretched in burden of taxpayers.   In the United States, illegal immigration is significant concern, and it has substantially afflicted public schools.   Because of the 1982 United States Supreme Court decision of Plyler vs. Doe, states are required to provide illegal immigrant students with a free public school education.   Thirteen years after this Court decision, public school systems in states with large illegal immigrant populations are going bankrupt (Grandrath 3). According Walsh, Public education has cost U.S. taxpayer an estimated $2 trillion since 1980 when President Jimmy Carter rewarded his supporters in the National Education Association (NEA), the teachers union, by creating the U.S. Department of Education (1).   There are an estimated 1.5 million school-aged illegal immigrants in the United States public education system and the government spends an estimated $12 billion annually to educate them. The biggest chunks are spent by California ($7.7 billion) and Texas (3.9 billion), where the situation has become a public education crisis with no end in sight (Illegal Immigrants Cause Public School Crisis 1).   This significant amount of money is all generated through taxpayers.   If only legal residents pay tax, illegal aliens should pay higher tuition to...