I heard Arnold was going to veto this bill.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyh ... ci_4429460

Article Last Updated: 10/02/2006 02:39:09 AM PDT

Bill would allow illegals access to financial aid
Supporters say measure gives opportunity to poor; opponents say it rewards breaking law
By Angela Woodall, STAFF WRITER


FREMONT — Sandra Ponca was the captain of her Kennedy High School soccer team. She earned near-perfect grades. She planned to study interior design. Then she graduated.

That was when the reality of being an illegal immigrant collided with her dreams.

Like the rest of the estimated 65,000 undocumented students who graduate from U.S. high schools annually, Ponca is ineligible for college financial aid.

Coupled with the fear of being exposed, the 18-year-old Ponca decided to attend Ohlone College instead of a four-year university where she could earn a bachelors degree.

It was too risky, she said.

Without help, many students such as Ponca are barely making it to college, say backers of a bill that would allow illegal immigrants who graduate from high school to apply for state financial aid at public colleges and universities.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has until midnight today to sign the bill, dubbed The Dream Act.

This is big. This is our education, said Ponca, whose parents immigrated to California from Mexico when she was 4 years old.

We wont be able to do anything else with our lives — except work at McDonalds, Ponca said. We want a better future.

Many parents who are illegal immigrants cant or wont help pay for college, said Tracy Virgil, a teacher with Ohlones Puente Project, a program that targets minority students.

Several of her students, largely Latino and illegal immigrants, dropped out last semester because they couldnt afford college without working — but their low-wage jobs took too much time from school.

Although Ohlone charges $26 per unit, the cost adds up quickly — about $1,000 for each full-time semester for fees and books.

They wanted to stay but they couldnt, Virgil said. A couple of students are barely hanging on this semester, she added.

It creates a cycle of failure, Ponca said. It doesnt matter how hard you work in high school — you still cant go to college.

Half of all Latino students — most of that pool foreign-born — dont make it through U.S. high schools, said Melissa Lazarin, a senior policy analyst with the National Council of La Raza, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group.

College is an impossible reality for them, Lazarin added.

The bill has its critics, such as the Fremont-based East Bay Coalition for Border Security. The Dream Act would be an incentive to immigrants to enter the country illegally and remain here, spokesman Charles Birkman said. Providing new privileges and benefits just adds to the problem we have, he said.

Not all the students who would be affected are illegal immigrants. More than half are U.S. citizens who have temporarily left the state and would be required to pay out-of-state tuition.

In addition to allowing them to compete for financial aid, students of state community colleges would be eligible for a fee waiver.

Legislative analysts say the bill could cost Californias public college and university systems an estimated

$7.3 million.

The Dream Act makes no provisions for federal aid and doesnt provide a path to citizenship.

It does require students to sign a sworn statement that they will apply for citizenship. The process typically takes at least five years.

The question is, Do we allow them to remain in an underground work force or educate them? said Eric Guerra, an aide to state Sen. Gilbert Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, the bills co-author along with Alberto Torrico, D-Newark.

Ponca said she understands the argument against the bill. But I didnt make the decision to come here. Its not my fault, and Im trying to do the best that I can, she said.

Ponca said she is pessimistic about the prospects of the bills passage. Its going to be the same thing, and there is nothing we can do about it, she said. I feel helpless sometimes.


Staff writer Angela Woodall covers Newark and Ohlone College. She can be reached at (510) 353-7004 or at awoodall@angnewspa pers.com.