California legislators have introduced a new bill that would prevent out-of-state residents from paying in-state fees to attend the state’s public colleges and universities, reversing current laws.
Existing laws permit eligible nonresident students, including undocumented immigrants, who have obtained a high school diploma in California and filed an application showing proof of their steps toward legal residency to pay in-state instead of out-of-state fees, which are more than double the amount in-state students pay.
The newly proposed Assembly Bill 286 attempts to repeal all the exemption rights offered to nonresident students in California by repealing AB 540.
And though some support AB 540 because they believe it offers undocumented immigrants, many of whom have grown up in California, access to higher education, others say the state should not be spending money for non-residents to attend college.
AB 286 was proposed earlier this month by Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, with the main goal of preventing undocumented students from receiving the fee exemption.
The provisions of AB 540 make it too easy to mislead the system, said Sam Cannon, Cook’s chief of staff, referring to the lack of enforcement in making sure students are taking actual steps toward becoming legal residents.
He also said by not charging all nonresidents out-of-state fees, the state loses a “significant sum” of money that could be spent in other ways, though he did not specify the amount.
“California can be spent in more effective ways,” Cannon said.
But Mariana Zamboni, a fourth-year psychology student who received legal residency one month ago, said she would not have been able to attend college if AB 540 had not permitted her to pay in-state fees.
“It completely changed the course of my life,” said Zamboni, who is originally from Guatemala. “It allowed me to pay in-state (fees) ““ otherwise I would not be able to afford college at all.”
But Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, voted against AB 540 when it was first proposed in 2001 because he believes people who are in the state legally should be the only ones receiving the benefits of in-state fees, said spokeswoman Amy Thoma.
She added that she believes it is unlikely AB 286 will reach the Senate.
Matias Ramos, project director of Ideas, a support group for undocumented students on campus, said he believes AB 540 has financially benefited both out-of-state and undocumented students.
He added that AB 540 is the reason many undocumented students were able to consider a college education.
AB 286 would take away the benefits of in-state fees from both documented and undocumented students alike, said Karl Engelback, legislative director for the UC Office of the President.
Under AB 286, documented students who graduated from a California high school but completed their undergraduate work in a different state would still have to pay out-of-state fees when they returned to California for graduate school, Engelback said.
He added that under current laws such students would be allowed to pay in-state fees.
Though AB 286 is directed toward undocumented students, it therefor reinstates out-of-state fees for all nonresidents, Engelback said.
Since the bill is still in its early changes, many aspects of it will likely change by the time it reaches the Senate, he said.