66 at PCC denied aid; couldn't prove legal status

By Eric Swedlund

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

State financial aid was denied to 66 Pima Community College students during the fall semester because they could not prove legal immigration status, the college reported.

The college also found 1,214 students were not entitled to pay in-state tuition rates, according to PCC's latest report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee regarding the implementation of Proposition 300. That figure includes those who did not seek in-state tuition or for whatever reason could not produce documents necessary to verify status as in-state students, said college spokesman David Irwin.

"There's no way to know from those 1,214 students how many, if any, are not here legally," Irwin said. "They simply may not have had a birth certificate or qualifying documents available."

Proposition 300 — passed by 70 percent of Arizona voters in November 2006 — prohibits illegal immigrants from paying in-state tuition at state colleges and universities or receiving any state financial aid.