Measures are in place to ensure illegal immigrants cannot attend Penn State.

New regulations were passed in December to help crack down on admissions by illegal immigrants, said Masume Assaf, assistant director for international students and scholars. However, the new regulations will not be released to international students until next week. There is a link on the Penn State Web site for international programs about the new regulations that are being put into place by the federal government because of Sept. 11, Assaf said.

A community college in northern Virginia has recently been faced with problems of students with illegal immigrant status. For more than 10 years, illegal immigrants have been permitted to study at the Northern Virginia Community College, until a disapproving memo was recently sent to the college from Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore. Prior to the memo, the college had permitted illegal aliens to attend and receive state money because there are no state or federal laws barring it.

"I think the Virginia case is an example that is bound to very clear regulations, particularly from 9/11," said Penn State spokesman Tysen Kendig. "It's completely in the hands of the federal institution. We have to abide by the regulations given to us by the federal governments."

Illegal immigrants are not permitted to attend Penn State, said Steven Mostert, spokesman for the admissions office. Several measures are used to ensure that all international students are legal residents. International students must submit additional paperwork along with their application for Penn State. This could make it more difficult for an illegal alien to apply, Mostert said.

When international students apply to Penn State they are assigned a random number to take the place of a social security number.

"As far as getting a Social Security number, they would need to become a citizen," said Thomas Storm, admissions counselor for Penn State. "Until that happens we just use the number that is assigned to them that is for admission purposes."

Mostert expanded on the number of documents required for international applicants.

"[International students] have the international application, their foreign credentials, a high school diploma and/or college diploma and a visa," Mostert said. "It's quiet complicated because they have to have approval to get the visa."

On Penn State applications, there is a question students are required to answer about citizen status.

"Any non-resident alien that is applying to Penn State is required to list the type of visa they have that allows them to be in the United States," Kendig said. "From that point on, the application will be transferred to the admissions section for international student program."