NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee immigrant students have handed lawmakers paper tombstone cutouts that described their lost hopes and dreams to protest the defeat of a bill to grant them in-state college tuition.
A handful of students showed up in graduation robes at the Capitol on Monday. The legislation they advocated for would have offered in-state tuition to public college students whose parents brought them or kept them in the country illegally.
Katherine Diaz, 18, said she attends a college in Kentucky at the out-of-state rate because she couldn't afford Middle Tennessee State University's out-of-state rate.
The cutout tombstone Diaz held said, "Here lies HB0863. With it lies my dreams of becoming a Lawyer."
Earlier this month, the House Education Administration & Planning Committee voted 7-6 against the legislation.