by Kerry Dougherty

Imagine, for a moment, you’re the parent of an exceptional North Carolina high school senior. She worked hard. Her grades are excellent. Her test scores are top tier.

She applies to and is accepted at Virginia’s prestigious flagship, the University of Virginia. The cost of in-state tuition for a first-year student ranges from roughly $16,500 to $27,000 while the cost to out-of-state students is more than $66,000.

That discrepancy is to be expected. State-supported schools always offer reduced tuition to in-state kids.

But UVa goes way beyond that. The university founded by Thomas Jefferson offers in-state tuition and enhanced financial aid to ILLEGAL ALIENS who live -illegally – in the commonwealth. If they attended high school here for two years these illegals are treated as preferred students.

Make it make sense.

Yesterday, the Department of Justice announced that it had filed suit in the Eastern District of Virginia, asking a federal judge to bar the state from enforcing the policy.

The suit claims that UVa’s policy “is not only wrong, but illegal.”

“In Virginia and nationwide, schools cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi in a news release. “This Department of Justice will not tolerate American students being treated like second-class citizens in their own country.”

If that North Carolina girl can’t get in-state tuition, why should someone who is in the country illegally get preferential treatment? Continue reading.