Tuition fee law stalls undocumented student's UC Davis, Stanford dreams

By Brenda Reyes
Andrea, 18, will finish high school this spring with a 3.83 cumulative grade point average, $15,000 in scholarships, a 1340 SAT score, and 100 hours of community service completed within the past year. Her dream is to attend the University of California at Davis and then Stanford to become a surgeon.
In spite of her over-achieving academic and extracurricular success, the Mission District resident will attend City College of San Francisco next fall. She has put UC-Davis on hold because of a provision in a state law that would have tripled her tuition there.
Andrea and her family migrated to the United States in pursuit of a better life two and a half years ago. Her status as an undocumented immigrant prevents her eligibility for California’s in-state college tuition and enrollment. Her name and high school are being withheld to protect her privacy.
On October 12, 2001, Governor Gray Davis signed Assembly Bill 540 into law. The bill relieves undocumented, college-bound students from paying non-resident tuition at public colleges and universities if they have completedthree years of high school in California. The difference is dramatic. At UC-Davis, Andrea’s choice, the tuition is $8,925 for California residents and $28,545 for non-residents. Students under AB 540 do not qualify for state or federal financial aid.
Andrea is six months shy of the “three- years” requirement even after completing two senior years of high school. Due to the number of students who recently migrated to the U.S., Andrea’s high schoolprovides those students the opportunity to stay one extra year in high school in order to meet the “three years in a California high school” requirement and qualify for in-state-tuition.
“At first I didn’t want to stay,” confessed Andrea, “I was upset because I really wanted to go to college since last year, I felt ready, and I didn’t want to waste my time in high school.”
Andrea would have been helped by a plan proposed by the Legislature.
As a realization of the financial constraint undocumented students face in their pursuit of higher education, state Senator Gilbert Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, proposed the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors, DREAM, Act.
The DREAM Act would provide undocumented students eligibility for financial aid and a path to citizenship as long as they enter the United States before the age of 16, are younger than 30, graduate from a U.S. high school, enroll in either college or the military, and prove good moral character.
However, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the DREAM Act for the second time on April 2008. The governor’s opposition to the DREAM Act maintains a barrier for undocumented students who desire a professional career but do not have the financial support to complete college. It makes it difficult for exceptional, goal oriented students like Andrea to give back to the United State's economy, community, and professional work force.
Whether the DREAM Act is approved or not, “I’m staying and finishing college, I don’t know how I’m going to work professionally but something later in the future will happen to me,” Andrea pledged.
Every year, 60,000 undocumented students graduate from high school in the United States. According to the Migration Policy Institute, “715,000 youth between the ages of 5 and 17, as well as 360,000 high school graduates ages 18 to 24, would become eligible for adjustment of status sometime in the future under the DREAM Act.”
Graeme Boushey, an assistant professor of political science at San Francisco State University, said that the DREAM Act “is a reasonable policy, [it] takes the brightest and allows them to become productive.”
Unfortunately, he said, immigration reform aimed at helping college-bound undocumented students is driven by politics. Proposition 187, introduced in 1994 and no longer in effect, which prevented “state and local governments from providing social services, education, and non-emergency medical care to non-citizens, and Assembly Bill 540 become laws to keep the status quo,” states Boushey. “Realistically, immigration can not help either the Republican or Democratic party. On the Republican side, businesses want cheap labor while on the Democratic side, illegal immigrants are a threat to blue collar American employees.”
Optimistically, Andrea sees her illegal citizenship status as a challenge and not a disadvantage. “You can do a lot of things as a noncitizen, like just going to college and becoming someone,” she said.
Determined and hoping to escape the high school environment, Andrea applied to Mills College last fall, an all-women’s independent liberal arts college in Oakland. After careful consideration, she decided to attend City College of San Francisco to qualify for in-state college tuition at UC-D.
In only two and a half years, Andrea completed an Advanced Placement Spanish course, passed the language portion of the exam with a 5 and literature with a 4, took the American College Test (ACT), joined community service organizations, applied for 15-20 scholarships, and is currently enrolled in an Advanced Placement Calculus course. Andrea’s decision to attend City College cost her a $12,000 scholarship she earned prior to that decision.
Although Andrea’s path to a college education is challenged by her illegal status, she does not blame her parents for bringing her to the U.S. Instead, she reassures us that education is her main priority and that “It’s up to [her] not [her] parents whether [she] goes to college or not.”
Andrea has a brother who is five years younger and shares her undocumented status. “By the time he’s in college; I will graduate from college and be able to help him financially and academically. If by then the government does not change anything, my experience will help him. If nothing happens with the DREAM Act in 4 yrs, I will know AB 540 much much better. I would have a network and know people,” declares Andrea.
In her ideal future, Andrea is a surgeon, contributing to the state’s economy, financially cooperating with her community, owns a house and car with a rightfully earned driver’s license. Obtaining U.S. citizenship “will make my life much easier, from school to personal confidence,” she said.