The law does not provide funds. Only reduced rate.
They have to pay their tuition. Do some get aid? Yes
But just like any other student.
Students Who Qualified For In-State Benefits Paid Approximately $32.7 Million In Tuition and Fees In FY 2010, A Net Gain Of $11.07 Million. According to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board: “Institutions of higher education report students who completed an affidavit paid approximately $32.7 million in tuition and fees in Fiscal Year 2010.” [Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, October 2011]
Removing The Tuition Benefit Will Have An Estimated “Net Loss Of Almost $92 Million In Tuition In Fiscal Year 2016 Alone.” According to Texas immigration attorney Susan Nelson: “A law was proposed in the 2011 legislative session that would have required undocumented students to pay non-resident tuition. The Higher Education Coordinating Board estimated that almost 20,000 students would be affected by the change, and calculated that the state’s institutions of higher learning would suffer a net loss of almost $92 million in tuition in fiscal year 2016 alone.” [Texas Immigration Lawyer Blog, 9/25/11]
WSJ: Undocumented Immigrants In Texas “Are More Likely To Bear A Larger Share Of The Tax Burden Than Their Counterparts In Most Other States.” According to the Wall Street Journal:
Immigration status aside, state residents are thought to be deserving of a subsidy because they pay sales taxes, property taxes and other fees to support state institutions that nonstate residents don’t pay. Especially in a state like Texas that has no income tax, illegal aliens are more likely to bear a larger share of the tax burden than their counterparts in most other states. [Wall Street Journal, 9/27/11]
You are ignoring a very salient fact and that is that public universities are not part of the free market system in that their tuition prices are set by the government and the cost of tuition does not cover the entire cost of a college education. Instead, tuition covers a small portion of the cost of a college education and the rest of the cost is covered by state taxes, endowments and in Texas the PUF.
In addition, the major universities in the state of Texas, specifically UT Austin which already has 52,000 students has to have greater and greater admissions standards and thus limit access to US citizens if Illegal Aliens and taking up the limited slots in enrollment.
“Immigration status aside...”
Are you kidding? How can you set immigration status aside when it is my tax dollars being used to subsidize college educations for students who will never be able to legally work in the United States.
The only hope that these illegal aliens have to ever legally work in the United States is if a future President Rick Perry grants all illegal aliens AMNESTY!