Tuition

Kudos to The Sun for two page one stories that clearly illustrate the hypocrisy of the Democrat-controlled legislature. In the same session that the legislature rewarded illegal immigrants with in-state tuition breaks, it penalized hardworking, high-achieving Maryland citizens by revoking their Distinguished Scholars awards. The net result of these actions will be to attract illegal immigrants to Maryland with services (educational, medical, etc.) paid for by taxpayers, and discourage the best students from remaining here during their college years and beyond.

Harford Community College students could have to pay $8 more per credit hour next year, nearly 10 percent more, even as the college plans to spend less to operate than it expects to spend this year. HCC officials also plan to spend nearly $12 million in capital building and renovation projections next year to add and upgrade facilities. The college is anticipating spending $45.6 million to operate in the fiscal year beginning July 1, which is about 1.4 percent less than in the current budget year, John Cox, HCC's vice president for finance, operations and government relations, said at Tuesday evening's monthly HCC Board of Trustees meeting.

Shame on CASA de Maryland, the group shamelessly advocating for illegal immigrants, and the ever-flaky ACLU. They are trying to sift through signatures on the petition against in-state tuition for illegal immigrants in order to throw out as many signatures as possible. Really? Obviously, CASA has no respect for the rule of law and the rights of law-abiding citizens. But the ACLU pretends to be about individual rights even if the individuals are not legal and breaking multiple laws.

An all day scrapbooking fundraiser will be held Saturday, May 19, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Phelps Center, 701 Montgomery St. Proceeds will go toward the Tuition Stabilization Fund for St. Mary of the Mills School. Cost is $30, which includes personal crop space, prizes and lunch. Forward your payment by May 11 to St. Mary of the Mills, 106 St. Mary's Place, Laurel, MD 20707, and include your email address. For information, contact Tanya Holt, 202-409-6092 or tholt@thectgroupllc.com , subject St. Mary's Crop.

It is against the law for someone who is here illegally to pay taxes. It is against the law for someone to use the Social Security number of another to pay taxes. Yet one of the items of the new proposed bill to give in-state tuition to illegal immigrants requires that they or their parents had to have paid taxes for the last two years. This means that either they or their parents are not only here illegally but paying taxes illegally. And how are they able to do this? Is anyone researching whether a stolen Social Security number has been used?

Your editorial "The to-do list" (March 27), as expected, called on Maryland taxpayers to subsidize the college educations of children of illegal immigrants. We already are paying $200,000 to provide K-12 education for these children. Does that justify our subsidizing their college educations as well? The Sun's editors would have you believe that we are doing this out of the goodness of our hearts. But the truth is that we are forced to provide this K-12 education because federal law exempts illegal immigrants under the age of 18 from deportation.

Students at growing Howard Community College in Columbia are facing the second tuition increase in as many years next fall, after college trustees unanimously approved a $4-per-credit boost for the budget they will submit to County Executive Ken Ulman. The increase, double the $2-per-credit rise approved last year, was approved without discussion at a brief board meeting Wednesday night at the college, though board Chairwoman Kathy Rensin said it was discussed at length at a work session in January "We have been discussing it for a while, wrestling with it with it — trying to put it off," Rensin said after the vote.

Why not ask the children of undocumented aliens for service to Maryland in something like AmeriCorps in exchange for in-state tuition after their graduation? This has been done in Holland for decades for those who have received government subsidized tuition. Christine Armor

For higher education in Maryland, what could be better than Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s proposed 12.5 percent budget increase for the next fiscal year? It would enable state colleges to make up for all his damaging budget cuts the last few years and to impose just a 4.5 percent tuition increase at College Park and most University System of Maryland campuses, a return to sanity after cumulative tuition increases since 2002 that have run as much as 50 percent. But it's an election year.

I read with dismay your front page stories "O'Malley signs tuition break" and "Seniors stunned by Md. scholarship cuts" (May 11). Of the scholarship cuts, Gov. Martin O'Malley's spokesperson was quoted as stating that "when we're dealing with the kind of recession we've been dealing with, every program can't be protected. " Yet the governor decided to support a tuition break for illegal immigrants? What kind of message does that send to the 350 law-abiding high school seniors who earned the merit scholarships?

We all know that the cost of higher education continues to increase at an exponential rate. The problem is real and, not to sound apocalyptic, getting worse. Recently, as has already been reported, the state legislature failed to approve its proposed budget and ended up with a "doomsday" budget that shortchanges the University of Maryland College Park and many other institutions and government programs. Specifically, the doomsday measure includes a potential 10 percent (or greater) tuition increase.

The state's top court has agreed to decide if Maryland's Dream Act will be on the ballot this fall. The Court of Appeals said this week it will hear CASA de Maryland's appeal of a judge's decision to allow the referendum on the 2010 law. The court scheduled arguments for June 12. The controversial measure was designed to provide college tuition discounts to certain illegal immigrants. Opponents blocked the law from taking effect last year by obtaining enough signatures to bring it to a referendum.

The budget package passed by the Maryland state Senate has many good elements -- investments in local schools, a cap on tuition hikes at public colleges, more money for road repairs and cuts in nonessential spending. However, it also includes a provision making it easier for county councils to override voter-imposed property tax limits. Five counties - Prince George's, Montgomery, Anne Arundel, Talbot, and Wicomico - currently have such limits. Whether or not you think your local property tax rate is high enough to support good schools, we should all be able to agree that the voters' will ought to be respected.

Voters will decide in November if they want to allow in-state tuition for some illegal immigrants at Maryland's public colleges and universities, an Anne Arundel County judge ruled Friday. Circuit Judge Ronald A. Silkworth rejected arguments by immigrant advocacy group Casa de Maryland and others that the law adopted by the General Assembly last year cannot be the subject of a referendum. The group's attorneys had argued that the law was an appropriations measure and therefore could not be put before voters.

President Barack Obama is right. For several decades, college tuitions in our country have risen relentlessly, faster than inflation and faster than economic growth - much like health care costs. Unless we get them under control, we'll continue to fall behind other countries in advanced skills. The good news is that Maryland has developed the model for how to do it. But we've just scratched the surface. There are four major ways to make college more affordable: •increase state investment in our public colleges; •increase efficiency in the delivery of instruction; •increase college credits earned in high school and decrease need for remediation in college; •increase competition from innovative public and private colleges.

Higher-education leaders in Maryland praised an effort unveiled by President Barack Obama on Friday to make college more affordable but expressed unease about still-emerging details that could have an impact on federal funding and student aid. Calling access to college essential for the nation's economy, the president used two speeches — including one in Maryland — to propose an expansion of student loan programs. He challenged state and university officials to hold the line on tuition or risk losing part of their federal funding.

Regarding your recent article on the split over the proposal to offer in-state college tuition to illegal immigrants ("Maryland becomes a state divided," July 31), does not the word, "illegal," mean unlawful, non-legal, or against the law? If so, why then are there sharply split attitudes? Dave Miceli, Joppa

If my tax dollars can be used by Afghani government officials toward the purchase of villas in France, why not by the children of illegal immigrants toward their college tuition ( "Amid federal inaction, Md. among states to take up immigration," Jan. 18)? Children of illegal immigrants are assets to our state and nation. Afghani government officials are… Doreen Rosenthal, Baltimore

The debate over a state law that would provide college tuition discounts to some illegal immigrants shifted to an Annapolis courtroom Friday. Attorneys for the law's supporters told an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge that the Maryland Constitution bars a November referendum challenge. The law is about funding state government programs, and appropriations measures are not subject to referendum, they said. But those backing a petition drive calling for a referendum said the measure does not deal with funding.

Maryland's governor won't be on the ballot, and the state is highly unlikely to play much of a role in the presidential election. But 2012 is nonetheless shaping up to be a riveting year in Maryland politics. Here are four major stories to watch in the year to come. A bill to legalize gay marriage cleared the Maryland Senate relatively quickly in 2011, only to stall in the House of Delegates. Advocates will have some formidable advantages this time around. Building on the experience of lawmakers in New York, which legalized gay marriage a few months after the legislation failed here, advocates have developed a smart, coordinated campaign to win over a few more supporters.