She hated seeing her mother tired from working three jobs and juggling to pay bills. Carpio knew college was her only way out. So she went to the University of Utah using a state law that allowed her to pay resident tuition. "It just takes you out of your own little world and it opens your mind," she says of college.

Then, after 17 years of going through the U.S. immigration process and just before graduating, Carpio became a U.S. permanent resident.

Now, as Utah lawmakers debate whether to repeal the 5-year-old tuition law, Carpio and university leaders statewide say they hope others get the same opportunities she did. Opponents, however, believe the law rewards lawbreakers and encourages illegal immigration.

The repeal: In a recent Tribune poll, 55 percent of Utah voters surveyed want to do away with a state law that allows undocumented students to pay resident tuition.

"The [tuition law is] an incentive to bring them in here," Draper resident Barry Hatch told lawmakers during a committee hearing on a bill to repeal the law. "We don't want to invite the illegals to come and come."

Rep. Glenn Donnelson, R-North Ogden, is sponsoring HB224 to repeal the tuition law for the fourth year in a row. Students enrolled or registered for classes by May 1 would be exempt. The House Education Committee recently voted 9-5 in favor of the measure. It now awaits a vote on the House floor and, if approved, would go to the Senate for consideration.

Donnelson says it makes no sense to provide a college education to undocumented residents, because they cannot legally work here.

"We're bound by laws; we're a nation of laws," he says. "We are training false hopes." Donnelson and other opponents of the law also say students need to return to their birth countries and then come back to Utah legally.

But Salt Lake City immigration lawyer Mark Alvarez says most undocumented students who call Utah home have little hope of getting legal status in the country they grew up in.

To start the U.S. immigration process, undocumented students would have to return to their birth country at age 18 and pay thousands of dollars in fees while waiting for a slim chance to return to Utah.

Undocumented college students or graduates who want to legally work for a company in the United States would have to go through a similar process, but the wait would be even longer, Alvarez says.

By the numbers: There are about 90,000 undocumented immigrants in Utah, according to Pew Hispanic Center estimates.

About 10 percent of students attending Utah's nine university and colleges pay out-of-state tuition. Last school year, 182 undocumented students - 0.13 percent of all Utah college students - applied for the resident college tuition waiver, according to state records.

Roughly half of the undocumented students who get resident tuition under the law have attended Salt Lake Community College, where resident tuition this semester costs $1,200 compared to $3,800 for nonresident tuition. At the University of Utah, resident tuition per semester costs $2,300; nonresident $7,300.

Why the law? Former Republican Rep. David Ure says the idea for the law came out of discussions in early 2000 that he had with educators about the apathy among undocumented Latino students graduating with honors from high school.

The students, Ure says, would often tell their teachers, " 'There's no reason to graduate from high school because I can't go into college. So why go on?' " There also was federal legislation being debated that would allow undocumented students to pay resident college tuition.

The Utah law passed in its first attempt during the 2002 Legislature with 53 percent of the vote in the House and 77 percent in the Senate.

Ure compares the struggle of undocumented students with that of blacks after the U.S. Civil War. Making undocumented immigrants third-class citizens is not going to force them to leave Utah, he says.

"Even though blacks were liberated, the whites did their best to make sure blacks didn't get an education," Ure says. "The blacks didn't go away, and the undocumented people are not going to go away."

Ultimately, pursuing an education is better than some turning to dealing drugs, joining gangs, receiving welfare or being in jail, Ure says. It costs the state about $23,000 a year to keep a person in prison.

"I'm not saying it's right that they sneak across the border," Ure says. "But we ought to try to help them become the best people they can."

No to repeal: University and college leaders say the law is not giving undocumented students a "free ride" and means much more than just resident tuition. It serves as a "welcome mat" for many students who feel that college is not where they belong.

Michelle Lundell, Utah Valley State College student services associate president, says undocumented students bring different perspectives to class discussions. Latinos make up more than 10 percent of Utah's population and 4 percent of the state's college students.

"It helps students learn more about other cultures and the challenges other cultures face," Lundell says. A repeal of the law would be a disservice to the state's future because it is helping to educate doctors, engineers and teachers, said Deneece Huftalin, Salt Lake Community College student services vice president.

"We believe it provides access, and we want legislators to know that," she says.

Theresa Martinez, a U. associate dean, calls HB224 "immoral."

"What are we saying? We're going to give you the most minium education possible, and we're going to bar higher education from you, regardless of how promising you are," she says.

Overall, college officials say undocumented workers have contributed to the state by working low-wage jobs and paying taxes. Now, their children, who call Utah home, deserve the same education.

"They're planning to stay in Utah and raise their families," Lundell said. "In order to have a career and pay taxes, they need an education."

jsanchez@sltrib.com