Undocumented students can have some peace of mind, at least for the moment.
When the California Supreme Court ruled earlier this week that undocumented students do not have to pay out-of-state tuition, the court did a lot more than simply settle a dispute about tuition rates.
They helped ensure that the 25,000 undocumented students who reside in California can continue to attend the colleges and universities at which they have so rightfully earned their place.
This board has written before about the valuable contribution that such students make across our University of California system. Had the court not ruled as it did, California would have lost a significant portion of its talent pool.
As it currently stands, undocumented students are ineligible for any state or federal financial aid. As a result, these students often times have to work multiple jobs off-campus to ensure that they can continue attending classes, and a four-year degree can take sometimes five to seven years to complete.
With in-state tuition already skyrocketing and an 8 percent fee hike likely to be approved today, all students are struggling to pay for school, regardless of their residency status. Forcing undocumented students, who are in every way Californians, to pay the out-of-state surcharge is just not necessary.
There’s a reason why, in order to help climb out of financial trouble, the UC is trying to increase the number of out-of-state students. They pay more. A whopping $22,000 more.
We have already seen our classmates drop out after struggling to pay rising in-state rates. What would happen if undocumented students are forced to pay out-of-state rates? But sadly, the battle is not quite over. There continues to be the possibility of further appeals, and undocumented students continue to be stigmatized as immigrants who somehow steal opportunities from other Californians.
Yet California’s precious UC accepts the best applicants that they get, and the fact of the matter is that these students have worked their way through the state’s K-12 system as successful students in their own right. They have done it as students first and foremost, not as illegal immigrants.
Opponents of the current law, AB 540, which allows undocumented students to pay in-state tuition if they have attended a California high school for at least three years, argue that the law should be amended. These pundits have it all wrong.
These students live on the cross-cultural border with lifestyles more akin to the sunny California culture than a faraway home they may have only seen during their childhood.
What is necessary is a law that ensures that these students are able to gain citizenship, possibly through the completion of a college degree. What this state needs is a larger, stronger workforce that is better academically equipped. Let’s not shun those who are willing to do the work.
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the editorial board.