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Immigrants struggle to go to college
For undocumented students, measure offers a way to pay
By Aurelio Rojas -- Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 12:01 am PDT Tuesday, August 29, 2006
SANTA ANA -- It's Friday night, party time for many college students. But inside a cramped conference room, Minerva Gomez has a serious agenda to plow through.

Analyses of proposed immigration changes, government affairs, outreach, fundraising -- she's considering issues of profound importance to Gomez and other students who are illegal immigrants.

As the chairwoman of the Orange County Dream Team Coalition, one of a network of support groups that have sprung up since California opened state universities and colleges to these students, she is familiar with tight schedules.

Gomez, 22, maintained an A-minus average at California State University, Long Beach, while working full time as a waitress on the graveyard shift. She recently graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology and sociology.

Gomez -- who was 5 when her parents left Mexico and illegally entered the United States -- is a beneficiary of Assembly Bill 540. The 5-year-old measure, which has come under attack in the courts and Legislature from critics of illegal immigration, allowed her to attend college for the same in-state tuition charged legal residents.

"I was one of the fortunate ones because AB 540 came in right as I was starting school," Gomez said during a break from her group's weekly meeting at Santa Ana Community College. "Without this bill, I could not have gone to school."

Legislatures around the country are cracking down on illegal immigration; more than 77 anti-immigration laws have been enacted this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. At the same time, some states are improving access to higher education for students who have distinguished themselves.

Nebraska recently joined nine other states, including California, Texas, New York and Illinois, that allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at their public institutions.

But unlike Texas, California does not allow these students to apply for financial aid. Moving through the Legislature this week is Senate Bill 160 by Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, which would end this prohibition.

The law would apply to students who are attending college under AB 540, the measure by the late Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh, D-South Gate, that then-Gov. Gray Davis signed into law in 2001.

To be eligible for in-state tuition, a student must have attended a California high school for three years and received a diploma or equivalent and met entrance criteria.

The law also requires students to sign an affidavit stating they have applied to become legal residents or will do so if they become eligible.

In the California State University system, out-of-state fees run about $10,000 more than in-state fees per year. At the University of California, there is a $15,000 surcharge. At California's community colleges, in-state fees run about $78 per course, while out-of-state students pay $500.

Advocates say that even with AB 540, many high-performing illegal immigrants who would otherwise attend college have been unable to do so because they are not eligible for aid.

At UCLA, where tuition alone costs more than $2,300 a quarter, members of a group called IDEAS (Improving Dreams, Equality, Access and Success) have been making telephone calls to round up support for the financial aid measure, said Carol's Montes.

Montes, who co-founded the campus counterpart to the Orange County Dream Team, works up to 30 hours a week in an AB 540 outreach program and as a lab assistant to pay her tuition.

"Everyone has stress figuring out how to pay for college, but for us it's more embedded because we have fewer options," said Montes, a senior.

The daughter of a carpenter and a homemaker who have raised five children, Montes was 4 when her parents entered the country illegally from Honduras.

She graduated at the top of her high school class and is majoring in physiological sciences at UCLA. Her older sister is an AB 540 student at California State University, Northridge.

In a state where Latinos have the highest school dropout and poverty rates, the sisters are the exception rather than the norm.

Indeed, most of the students who register under the guidelines of AB 540 are not illegal immigrants. The law also applies to legal residents, for example, whose parents moved out of state when they were high school seniors, or who attended boarding school elsewhere.

Only 371 students enrolled in the UC system during the 2005-06 academic year were undocumented immigrants admitted under AB 540. The CSU system does not keep a tally.

Most of the students who have taken advantage of the law attend the state's community colleges. During the first 2 1/2 years of the law, more than 18,000 did so.

But Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-San Diego, and other critics allege it violates the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. The measure bans states from granting rights to illegal immigrants that do not apply to every U.S. citizen.

Bilbray, who rode anger over illegal immigration to an election victory in June, has two children who graduated from high school in Virginia. They are paying out-of-state tuition to attend college in California.

Bilbray, his two children and 40 out-of-state students attending California colleges are challenging the law in a suit filed in Yolo Superior Court. A decision is expected any day.

"You have a sitting member of Congress with children who are totally documented and are still being required to pay out-of-state fees," Bilbray said. "That's not right."

But Robert Rubin, legal director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco, maintains the law does not violate federal law because tuition benefits are not restricted to illegal immigrants.

All you have to prove is that you are a California high school graduate who has spent at least three years in a California high school.

Rubin, who is representing AB 540 students in the case, has advocated for these students since the 1980s when he successfully argued they could attend school as residents.

In 1990, a court ruling determined that these students must pay out-of-state costs and do it without financial aid. AB 540 reopened campuses to illegal immigrants.

"These kids have overcome such great obstacles, they really represent some of the most industrious individuals that the state has," Rubin said. "They are kids who -- whether legal or not -- are going to remain in this state."

Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands, does not disagree these students embody heartwarming stories. But their presence on campus, he said, is wrong.

"I think it's unfair -- not just to California students -- but residents from adjacent states who can't come in here at the same tuition rate," Emmerson said.

Like Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, Emmerson has introduced legislation to repeal AB 540. Both were unsuccessful.

Antonia Rivera, a member of the Orange County Dream Team Coalition, is familiar with their arguments.

Rivera, 24, was 6 when she arrived from Mexico with her parents.

A recent graduate of the University of California, Irvine, she plans to use her education to contribute to the only country she has ever known.

"If I'm going to change the world, I want to begin with my house," she said.



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What financial aid bill would do
Senate Bill 160 would allow students who are attending college under Assembly Bill 540 to apply for financial aid.
AB 540, enacted in 2001, allows illegal immigrants to attend college for the same in-state tuition charged legal residents. The law also applies to legal residents whose parents moved out of state when they were high school seniors, or who attended boarding school elsewhere.

To be eligible under AB 540, a student must have attended a California high school for three years and received a diploma or equivalent and meet entrance criteria to pay in-state tuition.

The measure also requires students to sign an affidavit stating they have applied to become legal residents or will do so if they become eligible.


About the writer:
The Bee's Aurelio Rojas can be reached at (916) 326-5545 or arojas@sacbee.com.