Thread: California Students, Caught Between Two Laws, Seek Tuition C

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California Students, Caught Between Two Laws, Seek Tuition Cut

Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Suzanne Kattija-ari got her undergraduate degree at the University of California Davis for annual tuition of about $16,000. Now she wants a refund.

To get it, Kattija-ari, 23, from Kaneohe, Hawaii, joined 41 other students in suing California's state colleges and universities. The students, all from out of state, pay three times as much as California residents. They argue that illegal immigrants shouldn't get a lower tuition rate because they live in the state, while some American citizens are paying more.

``I joined this lawsuit because California has a lot of laws that contradict themselves or make no sense,'' Kattija-ari said. ``I appreciate that the odds of getting any money back at all are very slim.''

The students' complaint rests on a 1998 federal law mandating that in-state tuition be offered to all U.S. residents whenever it is available to illegal aliens.

That may run counter to a California law, passed in 2002, that permits immigrants who attend for three years and graduate from a California high school to enroll in a state college or university at the in-state tuition rate. Immigrant students who aren't citizens must indicate that they have applied, or intend to apply, for U.S. citizenship.

$6,802 Vs $24,106

``Hundreds of millions of dollars'' in tuition reimbursement and damages are at stake, said Michael Brady, the lawyer representing the students in the suit filed Dec. 14. ``There are tens of thousands of illegal immigrants getting this benefit. Meanwhile, the poor out-of-state students have been discriminated against and have to pay this huge tuition difference.''

University of California undergraduate residents are paying tuition of $6,802 this year, while non-residents are paying $24,106. Brady, a partner at Ropers, Majeski, Kohn & Bentley in Redwood City, California, filed the suit against the UC schools, the California State University system and California Community Colleges.

Ravi Poorsina, a UC system spokeswoman, disputed Brady's estimate of how many non-citizens receive the benefit. She said that last year just 401 students were ``potentially undocumented.'' Seventy percent of the 1,339 immigrants who paid in-state tuition at UC were U.S. citizens or legal residents, she said.

``The vast majority that are actually benefiting from this are not illegal aliens or undocumented students,'' Poorsina said.

Status Isn't Tracked

Brady's case was filed in Yolo County Superior Court in Woodland, California, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco. He is representing students from 19 states at a dozen schools.

California has 2.12 million students at its state colleges, the most of any state, said Murray Haberman, executive director of the California Postsecondary Education Commission, a policy- making organization.

As of last year, 11,816 of the 207,909 students in the UC system weren't U.S. citizens, Haberman said. None of California's higher education systems track how many immigrants, legal or illegal, attend the schools, he said.

The students' lawsuit claims that the state law violates the federal Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. In the suit, Brady calls the California law the ``Illegal Alien Tuition Scheme.''

``I couldn't believe that the federal law, which is so simple and straightforward, and which is a law that's been in effect since 1998, should be so blatantly violated,'' Brady said.

Conform to State Law

Poorsina said the UC system changed its tuition policy to conform to the state law on advice from the schools' lawyers and California Attorney General Bill Lockyer. The policy doesn't violate federal law ``because it's not a benefit that's based on residency status,'' she said.

Clara Potes-Fellow, a spokeswoman for California State University system, said ``very few'' illegal alien or U.S. resident students pay in-state tuition under the California law, though the schools don't count the exact number. It would be ``notable'' if demand for in-state rates were high among those groups, she said.

``At this point we feel we are following the California law, and will continue doing so until things change,'' Potes-Fellow said. ``Once the court makes a decision then we will figure out what is the most appropriate course of action for us.''

Kansas Case

Adam Burgh, a 21-year-old senior undergraduate from Yamhill, Oregon, paid out-of-state tuition at UC Berkeley for 2 1/2 years before gaining California residency in 2004. Burgh, who founded a campus organization to help students meet residency requirements, said he doesn't have a problem with the tuition policy benefiting immigrants.

``If I came to California and went to high school for three years and graduated, I would be a resident student,'' he said. Immigrants who benefit from the law are ``obviously working on some type of citizenship or residency.''

Brady said his lawsuit is similar to a case filed in Kansas by Kris Kobach, who worked at the Justice Department for former Attorney General John Ashcroft and headed the government's effort to register and fingerprint ``high-risk'' foreign visitors. The Kansas case is pending before a federal appeals court. Kobach, now a law professor at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, is co-counsel in Brady's suit.

Sympathetic Litigant

Kattija-ari gained residency last year and is paying in- state tuition for veterinary school. She said she is sympathetic to residency issues. Her father emigrated from Thailand, she said, and was ``in a similar position to what a lot of immigrants face.''

``Their parents put them in a crappy situation legally,'' Kattija-ari said of some immigrant students who under California law pay in-state tuition. ``But now that they're 18, they need to rectify it, or at the very least they shouldn't be extended a monetary benefit for not rectifying it.''

Ron Owens, a spokesman for the California Community Colleges, said the organization doesn't comment on pending lawsuits.

The case is Martinez v. Regents of the University of California, No. CV-05-2064, Yolo County Superior Court, in Woodland, California.


To contact the reporter on this story:
Joel Rosenblatt in San Francisco at jrosenblatt@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 31, 2005 08:49 EST

I hope all these US citizens get millions in tuition refunded as well as huge punitive settlements.

Me too, had_enuf. Me too!!

GO KIDS-Fight for your rights as American Citizens!!

AMEN! This is one of THE MOST UNFAIR situations I've heard lately. WHY are AMERICANS being PENALIZED for being AMERICANS and ILLEGALS are REWARDED for being ILLEGAL?? THIS DOES NOT COMPUTE.

Illegal immigration never computes.

You know, Judy--it's almost hard to believe HOW MANY THINGS that are going on in our country just don't "COMPUTE". Everywhere you turn, you run into yet another unexplainable SNAFU.

Yep....and in the most unlikeliest of places.

Do you know what "SNAFU" stands for??? It is an old Army term that has a VERY LOVELY MEANING! If you don't, I will PM you!!!

I think I do. Not sure. Please advise.

It's on the way!