[Educationforall] Most AB 540 students are citizens--despite attacks by Republican gubernatorial candidates on undocumented students rights

Sat Apr 3 17:59:53 UTC 2010

Illegal immigrants less than 1 percent of California college enrollment
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Buzz up!By Susan Ferriss
sferriss at sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Apr. 1, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Friday, Apr. 2, 2010 - 11:19 pm

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/04/01/2648006/illegal-immigrants-less-than-1.html#ixzz0jyNBdh7f

graph of school breakdown attached
Eight years after California's Legislature adopted a tuition break to help undocumented immigrants afford college, these students account for 1 percent or less of all students in the state's three higher education systems.

The data come as both Republican candidates for governor are calling for the practice to end, saying the cash-strapped state can't afford to let illegal immigrants attend state-supported colleges at resident rates.

The most recent data from the University of California, California State University and the California Community Colleges system show:

. At UC's 10-campus system, undocumented students were no more than three-tenths of a percent of 220,000 students in 2007-2008.

. More than 68 percent of the 1,941 UC students who received the waiver of out-of-state tuition rates were actually U.S. citizens or "documented" immigrants who qualified under the terms of Assembly Bill 540. U.S. citizens and documented students consistently have been the greatest number of UC's AB 540 students, as they are called, since waivers began in 2002.

. In 2007-08, AB 540 students at UC received an estimated $26 million "value" with their tuition waivers. That added up to five-tenths of a percent of UC's "core" state-funded budget of $5.4 billion, said spokesman Ricardo Vasquez.

. At CSU's 23 campuses, 3,633 students are receiving AB 540 waivers in the current school year - less than 1 percent of all 440,000 students. The numbers have increased since the law passed in 2001, when CSU officials told the Legislature they expected about 500 students to take advantage of the waivers.

. In the community college system in the 2008-09 school year, 34,016 students were granted AB 540 waivers - 1 percent of all 2.89 million students.

. CSU and community college records do not identify the status of AB 540 students, but administrators believe the undocumented make up a larger percentage there than at UC.

With support from some Republicans, lawmakers approved AB 540 in 2001.

The California Chamber of Commerce called AB 540 good for the state's economy and work force quality. Supporters also said tens of thousands of illegal students didn't come here by choice, were graduating annually from high school, but remained in limbo.

The law allows students who attended California high school for at least three years and graduated here, including citizens, to pay in-state tuition even if they are not legal residents of the state.

Undocumented AB 540 students in California are barred from all state, school or federal grants or loans. They also must sign an affidavit promising to seek legal status as soon as they can, even though most of the students have no avenue to obtain that status.

Issue hits GOP primary

Undocumented AB 540 students are figuring large in political rhetoric as the June 8 primary race to select a Republican nominee for governor heats up.

A new Field Poll found that 58 percent of Republicans consider illegal immigration to be among the most important issues in the governor's race, compared with 37 percent of total voters who believe that.

GOP gubernatorial rivals Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner each single out illegal immigrant students as a financial burden and say they want to kill AB 540.

"Ban the Admission of Undocumented Students to UC, CSU and California Community Colleges," Whitman says in her policy agenda pamphlet.

"At a time when we're letting police officers, firefighters and teachers go, then everything has to be on the table," added Whitman spokesman Hector Barajas.

Poizner, in a Los Angeles Times piece Saturday, wrote: "One taxpayer-funded benefit for illegal aliens that should be stopped is in-state tuition at our public colleges and universities."

Poizner spokesman Jarrod Agen said Poizner wants to seek savings to help relieve the current budget crisis but also wants to send "a clear signal that benefits will not exist anymore."

Poizner also favors blocking undocumented K-12 children from public school, while Whitman has said K-12 children should not "pay for the sins of their parents."

'Scapegoating' alleged

The candidates' comments sparked a fierce rebuke from Kent Wong, a labor studies professor at UC Los Angeles.

"I wish they, with all their billions," Wong said, "would come here and tell my students that they should be kicked out of college - the college they worked so hard all their lives to get into, and that they should instead go wash dishes in the underground economy."

Nancy, a UCLA education student who asked that her last name not be revealed because of her illegal status, was brought to the United States at 8 months of age.

Her mother obtained status through a relative after years of waiting, but Nancy can't.

Wong said it was "misleading" and "scapegoating" for candidates to suggest that state budget woes would be relieved by taking away in-state tuition from a small number of students.

UC attorney Christopher Patti, meanwhile, is defending California's three college systems against a lawsuit - now before the California Supreme Court - arguing that AB 540 violates the rights of U.S. citizens in other states by allowing illegal immigrants to pay in-state fees.

U.S. citizens who have benefited from AB 540 include graduates of California boarding schools, students whose parents were transferred because of military or business, and students who return to California after residing in another state, with no time cap.

Texas and eight other states also have AB 540-type tuition breaks aimed at helping illegal immigrant students.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/04/01/2648006/illegal-immigrants-less-than-1.html#ixzz0k3q653za
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