The Georgia Board of Regents took a couple of tentative steps last week toward protecting taxpayers when it ruled that illegal aliens enrolled in the state's public colleges and universities cannot pay the cheaper in-state tuition rate, and when it required the presidents of those schools to determine within 60 days whether any illegal residents are receiving or about to receive any state, local or federal benefits, such as Pell grants or HOPE scholarships, at their schools.

But the Regents sidestepped the bigger question - the question that, to most Georgians, has an obvious answer. That question, of course, is "Should illegal aliens be allowed to enroll in Georgia's public colleges and universities?"

And the answer, for most Georgians, is a loud "No!"

Those slots in Georgia's schools should be reserved for the state's legal residents, whether native-born, transferees, out-of-state students or foreign nationals with the proper documentation.

State and federal law prohibits illegal aliens from receiving government benefits. But for some inexplicable reason, lawyers for the Regents have narrowly interpreted those laws so that they apply only to such things as tuition and financial aid (i.e., Pell Grants and the HOPE scholarship). They have turned a blind eye to the fact that admission to a public college or university, in itself, clearly constitutes a government benefit. After all, even the out-of-state tuition rate does not cover the actual cost of the education provided. The difference is made up by the taxpayers.

The Regents on Wednesday also set up a committee to look at ways to prevent illegals from getting in-state tuition. Among the proposals on its agenda are requiring each applicant to provide proof of citizenship and/or using the federal SAVE database for verification.

"We have more illegal immigrants than the state of Arizona and yet we are not using the SAVE verification system or cooperating with Homeland Security to verify citizenship," complained Phil Kent of the Americans for Immigration Control after the meeting. "So my question is, how are they going to verify it? They say that, but they have no verification system."

The Regents committee also will consider whether to recommend whether to deny admission to illegal aliens. We suspect most Georgians would reply that that should be a "no-brainer" of a decision.

The Regents were also put on the spot by last week's request from Cobb Sheriff Neil Warren, who formally requested a Georgia Bureau of Investigation review of whether the University System is violating federal law by providing "benefits" to illegal aliens in the form of education at tax-subsidized institutions of higher learning.

And the Regents first were drawn into the ever-more volatile immigration-reform debate after Kennesaw State University student Jessica Colotl was arrested in March for a minor traffic violation on campus and, after lying to police, was discovered to be in this country illegally. She was eventually given a one-year reprieve by ICE to finish her studies, but was ordered to start paying the out-of-state tuition rate, not the cheaper rate.

Her case has focused the public's attention on the central question in this debate - one which the Regents, college presidents and state Legislature until now have mostly ignored - which is, why are illegal aliens being enrolled at all?

Why, indeed?