This article is part of a PRO/CON opinion piece on education for illegal immigrants. To view the opposing side, see here.
By Diane Lee
Staff Writer
Illegal immigrant students attending California’s public universities and colleges greatly benefit from the ruling by the California Supreme Court on Nov. 15, which stated that illegal aliens will continue to receive lower in-state tuition rates. The Court correctly concluded that the state law granting illegal immigrants in-state tuition is not in violation of federal law.
The court case began when California’s out-of state students challenged the Regents of the University of California for not giving them equal benefits as the illegal immigrant students. The Immigration Reform Law Institute, a non-profit law firm that works to defend American citizens’ rights and liberties threatened by illegal immigrants, provided the lawyers for the case.
The organization claimed that providing illegal alien students with cheaper in-state tuition is against the federal law Title 8, Chapter 14, Sec. 1623, which bans giving illegal immigrants benefits for their residency that are denied to other U.S. citizens, such as out-of-state students.
On the other hand, the regents of 147 public colleges and universities in California argued that according to the California Education Code 68130.5 and state law AB 540, undocumented students may be given low-cost rates if they have attended a high school in California for three years and have signed an oath declaring to legalize their status as soon as possible.
The California Supreme Court ruled that AB 540 is not a violation of federal law as benefits for illegal immigrants are not based on their residency status. Soon after, the IRLI announced that they will appeal this case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
However, undocumented students attending California’s higher education facilities should continue to receive in-state tuition rates. As the California Supreme Court stated, the regents are not violating the federal law because they make no provisions based upon residency.
The federal law prohibits giving illegal immigrants low-cost tuition because they are residents in a certain state. However, the state law does not give the illegal immigrants in-state tuition because they are residents in California. AB 540 gives them the benefits because they attended a California high school for three years.
The law also says that illegal aliens cannot receive the benefit if it isn’t available for all U.S. citizens. The reduced tuition is technically available to all U.S. citizens because there are ways non-residents can get in-state tuition. For example, if a student attends a boarding school in California for three years, he or she may receive in-state tuition rates.
The IRLI claims that more than 25,000 undocumented students attend the public universities and colleges in California and that charging them in-state tuition rates costs the state about $208 million each year in revenue.
These 25,000 aliens are students legally accepted into their schools and in compliance with all the requirements of the Education Code. Therefore, the costs the state incurs with undocumented students should not be differentiated from the costs of the other 41,000 students that qualified for in-state-tuition.
The California Supreme Court decision is not only a correct interpretation of the law, it is a fair ruling for illegal immigrants and provides all residents equal opportunities to education.
California’s Education Code and state law AB 540 grant illegal immigrants the right to attend public colleges in California if they meet the requirements. Affording illegal immigrants in-state tuition is a just way of ensuring equal opportunity to education and is in no way in violation of federal law.
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