Vanderbilt poll: Most Tennesseans support in-state tuition for undocumented students

Adam Tamburin | The Tennessean

Show Caption Hide Caption Undocumented students face college without TN Promise Adriana Herrera was not sure about college even as she prepared to graduate Overton High School because of her undocumented status.

Most Tennesseans support in-state college tuition for undocumented students, a proposal state lawmakers have repeatedly blocked in recent years.

The finding, which was included in a poll released Tuesday by Vanderbilt University, suggests the General Assembly is at odds with Tennesseans who are affiliated with both major parties.

According to the poll, 66 percent of Tennesseans believe undocumented students who came here with their parents at a young age should be eligible for in-state tuition if they graduate from high school in Tennessee and then enroll at a state college or university.

State law currently requires those students to pay out-of-state rates, which can be three to five times higher.

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Lawmakers and advocates have worked for five years to change the law, relying on emotional appeals from undocumented students who said they could not afford expensive out-of-state tuition.

Republican Gov. Bill Haslam and college leaders have supported the efforts over the years. But every time the measure has met with defeat with many lawmakers resisting any attempt to accommodate people who came to Tennessee illegally, even if they were young children at the time.

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But among Tennessee voters, support for the measure is widespread, according to the Vanderbilt poll. Eighty-seven percent of Democrats endorsed the idea, as did 55 percent of Republicans and 66 percent of Independents.

Tennesseans who aligned with the Tea Party, arguably the state's most conservative voting bloc, were about evenly split, with 48 percent for and 49 percent against the measure.

John Geer, Vanderbilt professor and co-director of the university's Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, said the poll results show the "pragmatic sides of Tennesseans" that eschew traditional ideas about "red state" politics.

"There is this component that exists in the state that really deserves to get more attention," Geer said. "Tennesseans aren't just driven by ideology. They’re driven by pragmatism.

"It often goes unnoticed if you just were to list to the rhetoric in the state legislature."

Stephanie Teatro, co-executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, which has promoted the in-state tuition bills, said the Vanderbilt poll reflects a sea change she and others have seen while traveling the state to discuss the effort.

"We know that as more and more Tennesseans get to know their immigrant neighbors, people support fair and humane immigration policies," she said. “We regret that although (Vanderbilt's) numbers and our experience make clear that Tennesseans support the bill it still failed” in April.

Teatro said she plans to use the poll results to persuade more lawmakers to support the in-state tuition bill in 2018.

Reach Adam Tamburin at 615-726-5986 and atamburin@tennessean.com or on Twitter @tamburintweets.