California, Here I Come

The verdict on 4/9/18 from the State Supreme Court was unanimous, 7-0. The judges ruled that D.A.C.A. recipients are not eligible for lower in-state tuition. This will mean an increase in tuition for approximately 2000 students beginning next year. This increase in tuition will effect three state colleges and the largest community college district in the state, the Maricopa Community Colleges District.
You say that you don’t know where the Maricopa Community Colleges are located. Perhaps that is because they are not located in California, but rather in Arizona, where apparently there are judges who actually follow the law.
Of the approximately 800,000 D.A.C.A. beneficiaries in the U.S., about 223,000 live in California. Perhaps this is at least partially because of the very very nice way that California treats this class of illegals. Between 2012 and March 2017 over 242,000 D.A.C.A. immigrants have been enrolled in colleges and universities in California, and at present there are over 72,000 undocumented students enrolled in California’s public colleges and universities. There are 60,000 in community colleges, 8,300 in the Cal. State system, and 4,000 in the Univ. of California system.
Since 2001 California has allowed undocumented students (not necessarily D.A.C.A. students) to pay the discounted in-state levels of tuition, and since 2011, the California Dream Act provides aid to undocumented students whether or not they are D.A.C.A. eligible students. This 2011 Act also provides grants that cover up to the entire cost of tuition at U.C., Cal St, and community colleges, and up to $9,000 for private colleges. Again D.A.C.A.status is not required!
Think about what this actually means. The State of California is subsidizing college educations for thousands upon thousands of young students who are not citizens. Furthermore since there is limited space in the U.C.and Cal St systems, undocumented non-citizens are taking spots that should belong to legal California residents. This hardly seems fair to those who are here legally, but in the minds of the Democratic State Legislators, this is perfectly fair! (Please note that I am using the word “minds” here very loosely.)
What is probably going to happen next? Think logically here . . . (California Democratic Legislators need not even try!) Of course, some of those undocumented Arizona college students will opt not to pay the new increased tuition rate in Arizona, but instead will choose to come to the Golden State to finish their college educations, and thus will displace yet more legal residents from matriculating at a U.C. or a Cal St school. I can almost hear them singing, “California, here I come!”

120 Replies to “California, Here I Come”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.