Adoption of In-State Tuition Policies for Undocumented Students: Lessons from Policy Narratives

• In Event: Federal and State Higher Education Policy Making

Abstract

About 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school every year. However, prospects for postsecondary education are limited for many of these students due to the financial burdens of college. Some state governments have passed laws that grant undocumented students in-state resident tuition for postsecondary education. Most states, however, have not adopted these policies. There is little empirical work on what state characteristics are associated with the adoption of these policies or on the framing of this issue in political discourse. In this study, we utilize an event history analysis to determine state-level characteristics that are associated with the adoption of these policies and employ content analytic techniques to understand how the issue is framed in media coverage and political debate.

Authors

• John Wachen, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Cheryl Varghese, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill