Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill this month that would have given undocumented students the right to apply for state financial aid, dealing a blow to key legislation for proponents of illegal immigrants’ rights.
The bill — called the California Dream Act and introduced by Sen. Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) — would have affected about 600 undocumented students at the University of California’s 10-campus system.
Support for the legislation was sharply split along party lines during its Senate approval in late August, and many Republicans said the bill would prioritize undocumented students over out-of-state students, who cannot apply for in-state aid.
“This is a slap in the face to any student who is here legally,” said Morgan Crinklaw, a spokesman for Assemblyman and Republican Leader George Plescia (R-San Diego).
This year, UC officials estimated that out-of-state students paid $18,168 more in tuition and fees, and total costs next year could inflate. Currently, illegal immigrants are allowed to apply for in-state residency, a status that would spare them extra costs. In 2005, over 40 nonresident students sued the UC system, demanding damages because they were charged higher tuition rates than illegal aliens. The students claimed that the university violated a federal law, passed in 1996, that mandated the same amount of aid be provided to both nonresident and undocumented students.
Still, Cedillo said his bill was meant to “to retain California’s high school investment.” A consortium of student groups, state cultural organizations and chambers of commerce — including those of Los Angeles and San Francisco — are still fighting to revive the legislation. On Oct. 7, students protested the governor’s veto at Sacramento State University and Cedillo criticized Schwarzenegger for his decision to veto the bill.
“Just last week the governor had an opportunity … to open the door for all eligible California high school graduates to compete for institutional financial aid in order to attend college,” Cedillo stated in a press release. “He chose to close the door instead.”
The cost of providing aid to illegal immigrants in the UC system would be $3.7 million, legislative analysts estimated. UCSD Financial Aid Director Vincent De Anda said that, because the number of enrolled illegal immigrants was small, the impact of a bill such as Cedillo’s would be “minimal.”
Readers can contact Charles Nguyen at [email protected].
