NASHVILLE – Two-thirds of state voters surveyed in a new poll say they back granting in-state public college and tuition rates to Tennessee high school graduates whose families brought them illegally as children to the U.S.
Sixty-six percent of 1,004 voters surveyed in the Vanderbilt University Poll say such students deserve in-state tuition instead of out-of-state rates, which can be three times as much.
Fifty-five percent of Republicans in the survey said they supported in-state tuition rates for the undocumented students. Forty-eight percent of self-identified tea party supporters backed it, while 49 percent opposed it.
The poll was conducted May 4-14 and has an overall margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.3 percent.
“It’s fair to say that this is an issue that has broad support across the state,” said Dr. John Geer, co-director of Vanderbilt’s Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions.