 CALIFORNIA DEBATES OFFERING IN-STATE COLLEGE TUITION TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
The California State Assembly, the lower house of the State Legislature, has approved a bill that would allow undocumented immigrants living in California to attend state universities at in-state tuition rates. While illegal immigrants are not currently prevented from attending state universities, they must pay the out of state tuition rate, which is $ 10,000 more than the 300 in state students pay.
The provision would apply to people who have attended a California public high school for at least three years, and to be eligible applicants must also sign a declaration of their intent to legalize their immigration status. They would not be eligible for state or federal financial aid.
In 1985 a California state court ruled that illegal immigrants must be given in state tuition, but the decision was reversed five years later. Proposition 187, passed in 1994, attempted to deny illegal immigrants access to all public education. Gov. Gray Davis has said he will not enforce this provision, which is directly contrary to a US Supreme Court decision holding public schools cannot close their doors to illegal immigrant children.
While the new bill may represent some change in attitudes, there are those who still share in the sentiments that motivated Prop. 187. One such person is Ron Prince, one of the authors of Prop. 187, who balks at the idea of subsidizing the college education of undocumented teenagers. He says “if you have a 19-year old person who is a would be college student who is too stupid to know that he’s here illegally, that person has no business applying for admission.
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