In October, Governor Brown signed AB 131, the second bill of the two-part California Dream Act, allowing undocumented immigrant students to apply for state-funded financial aid for college. Under current law, undocumented students pay resident tuition rates if they have graduated from a California high school and affirmed that they are in the process of applying to legalize their immigration status. Starting January 1, 2013, those students will be eligible to apply for state-funded Cal Grants and other public aid.
According to the California Department of Finance, about 2,500 students will qualify for Cal Grants as a result of the bill. The expansion of the Cal Grants program is expected to cost the state $23 million to $40 million annually.
“The Cal Grant would lower the amount the student pays,” says Richard Ortega, Vice President for University Advancement at Holy Names University in Oakland. “It makes the cost for them more attainable.”
“We hope we can leverage state aid to increase support we provide students,” adds Ortega. “It brings more funds to the table when we develop a financial package for the student.”
The average student at Holy Names pays only about half of their tuition cost because of the scholarship money the university distributes.
Ortega says he hopes that passage of the Dream Act will drive more students to Holy Names University, which recently became a Hispanic-serving institution and is already certified to accept Cal Grant students.
“Our student population just passed 25 percent Hispanic – we can now apply for special funding for Hispanic students.”
With a lack of national policy-making, many states have taken their own action on immigration reform. Alabama currently requires public schools to determine the immigration status of students and gives police the right to detain anyone who can’t produce documentation proving citizenship. Illinois, however, passed its own Dream Act in August, giving undocumented students access to private education funding. In comparison, California's bill is especially significant because it is the nation's largest state and home to far more undocumented residents than any other. It is also the first bill that uses public funds to help undocumented students.
The controversial bill is the highest-profile act to expand undocumented students' access to higher education after a federal Dream Act, which would have given undocumented students a path to short-term permanent residency status, failed last year to attract enough support in Congress.