For the past five years, students have diligently worked to pass the California DREAM Act. Introduced by Sen. Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, the act would have allowed undocumented students who attended a California high school for at least three years and graduated from a California high school to be eligible for similar financial assistance available to other students in the state. We are deeply disappointed that Gov. Schwarzenegger chose to veto the bill and deny another class of high school graduates equal access to higher education.
Despite the governor’s veto, students are still united in the fight for equal access to the University of California.
In California’s public higher education system, fees that students pay are one of the major contributions to financial assistance programs. Although Assembly Bill 540, passed in 2001, allows undocumented students who attended California high schools for at least three years to pay in-state tuition, it is an injustice that these students are still banned from financial assistance programs that they help pay for.
Allowing undocumented students to compete for the same financial aid opportunities as their classmates does not cost the state or taxpayers anything ““ it does not create any type of financial burden on the state at all. It simply allows low-income students and their families access to the resources needed to attend college.
The students who this bill directly affects (AB 540 students) make up less than 1 percent of students in the UC system, but contribute $64 million a year in tuition and fees.
As UC graduates, they become the highly skilled workers that our state needs: scientists, social workers, educators, engineers and health-care professionals. Education is what spurs our state economy to grow, and we need that right now.
Education is a right for everyone. It should not be limited to those who can afford to pay $25,000 a year to attend a UC.
The cost of education keeps rising, and as it does, students across the board are forced to get another job, take out more loans and place a greater burden on their families. These continuous fee increases affect students from all walks of life.
But unlike other students on campus, undocumented students are not able to get the same financial aid opportunities that their classmates receive.
This makes it that much harder for them to stay in school and receive the education that they have worked so hard for.
Gov. Schwarzenegger’s short-sighted veto sent the wrong message to young people in California. As before, students will continue to work to open the doors of our university to everyone.
We will send the right message: the message that education is a right.
Marilyn Corrales and Ignacia Rodriguez are co-chairs of Improving Dreams, Equality, Access and Success. Jesse Melgar is the board chair of the UC Student Association and the Undergraduate Students Association Council external vice president.