“Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday granted illegal immigrants access to state financial aid at public universities and community colleges, putting California once again in the center of the nation’s immigration debate,” according to the L.A. Times.
“But he vetoed a measure that would have allowed state universities to consider applicants’ race, gender and income to ensure diversity in their student populations.
“Deciding the fate of 50 education-related bills, the governor also rejected an effort to make it more difficult to establish charter schools. But he accepted a move to improve college life for gays, lesbians and bisexual and transgender people and a measure to restrict the privatization of libraries.
“None of the other proposals, however, has drawn the attention — or rancor — surrounding the California Dream Act. Most Republican legislators voted against it, and anti-illegal-immigration groups denounced it as unfair.
“Brown’s signature on the bill fulfilled a campaign promise to allow high-achieving students who want to become citizens the opportunity to attend college, regardless of their immigration status.
“‘Going to college is a dream that promises intellectual excitement and creative thinking,’ Brown said in a statement. ‘The Dream Act benefits us all by giving top students a chance to improve their lives and the lives of all of us.’
“Beginning in 2013, illegal immigrants accepted by state universities may receive assistance from Cal-Grants, a public program that last year provided aid to more than 370,000 low-income students.
“The new law also makes students who are not legally in the country eligible for institutional grants while attending the University of California and California State University systems. And it permits them to obtain fee waivers in the community college system.
“Students must graduate from a California high school after attending school in the state for at least three years and must affirm that they are in the process of applying to legalize their immigration status. They also must show financial need and meet academic standards.”
“Brown downplayed the cost to taxpayers. He said the California Department of Finance estimates 2,500 additional students will qualify for Cal-Grants as a result of the Dream Act, at a cost of $14.5 million.
“The Cal-Grant program costs $1.4 billion, so about 1% of all Cal-Grant funds could be affected, the governor said.”
The rest of the article is here.
Filed under: Uncategorized
MY children have qualified for Cal-Grants and they were born of native Californians (in our case 4th generation). If they don’t continue to qualify for Ca-Grants because the funds have already been allocated to aliens, then something is wrong with this system. Sorry, I’m sure, if I sound like a “not in my neighborhood” conservative, but I am a mother bear protecting her young.
Gae,
The story states: “The Cal-Grant program costs $1.4 billion, so about 1% of all Cal-Grant funds could be affected, the governor said.”
That leaves 99 percent for the rest. Think about it.
from http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19077738
The contentious second half of the package requires that immigrant students meet the same requirements as all other students applying for financial aid at state universities but **specifies that they only qualify for financial aid after all the other legal residents have applied.**
Thanks for clarifying this issue Jeff.
Jeff, time for a new paywall model maybe? It’s all about monetization @ the end of the day, I don’t care what anyone says otherwise. Charity is one thing, bringing home the bacon is another. As the Citizen’s United decision pointed out, money = speech + votes.
http://www.citizensunited.org/
If an immigrant kid brought here as a child can also meet the same requirements as the native born (4th generation or otherwise), I confess to wondering a bit about what the native born kid has been doing in school…
While I sympathize with that sentiment, I believe the article was talking about financial need requirements for financial aid, not academic requirements for acceptance to university.
Sharon:
Cal-grants are made available to kids who meet the academic requirements for admission to California colleges and universities. This requires a high school diploma at a minimum, and often more. These rules apply equally to both native-born, and those who have applied to regularize their citizenship status, a process which often takes the federal government years even when formal requirements are met.
As you note in your post, for the child brought here illegally, they receive grants only after others. All in all it seems to me to be a tempest in a teapot.
Having said that, I still don’t have much sympathy for a native Californian who is brought up here, and still has weaker academic qualifications than a child brought from another country under whatever circumstances.
Tony
Bring ‘em on!
And let them speak freely!! With their checkbooks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission
Tony,
You wrote: “Having said that, I still don’t have much sympathy for a native Californian who is brought up here, and still has weaker academic qualifications than a child brought from another country under whatever circumstances.”
Thanks my friend for hitting the nail on the head!
My father came to the US from South Africa in the last year or so of WWII at the age of 15 or 16. He attended Berkeley High for a semester or so and comments that he was surprised at how easy it was, because his SA high school was much more rigorous, particularly in math and science. The international program my son attends is far more rigorous than the CA high school AP program he was getting at NU.
My understanding is that foreign high schools are at a higher level than US, while US universities are considered the best in the world. Perhaps high school in most other countries is expected to produce adults ready for the work force; not so here any more.
Tony,
I had a light bulb moment with my brother in law with an almost exact same concept.
He was a fox only viewer at the time but has come a long way since this conversation, it was still during the Bush administration.
He kept calling our country a socialist country, I asked him for an example. He told me that one of his employees who is an honor roll student and is also a immigrant from Asia was receiving a scholarship for college while his son couldn’t get one because he was a white American. How this is proof of socialism I don’t know, but my nephew had some academic issues and was on the verge of dropping out of high school. He also didn’t have a job or participate in extra curricular activities, he is also doing much better these days.
I made the point to him a scholarship was an investment. They are going to invest in someone who works hard and does well in school and at their job, not someone who is struggling to show up for class and expresses little self motivation. My brother in law got extremely mad at my judgment of his son. I let him know that I truly understand the struggling through school because I worked just hard enough to make grades for sports in high school myself. I was not worthy of a academic scholarship and neither was his son. After a couple month cool off period, he expressed his understanding of what I was trying to say and agreed.
Do keep in mind the thousands of naturalized citizens who properly jumped through all the hoops to become Americans; now their kids, just as every other American kid who through no fault of their own were born here of American citizens, are having their college hopes destroyed by illegal aliens bumping them out of college through sheer numbers and/or through the theft of college grant and scholarship money intended for Americans and not for illegal aliens or other terrorists by whatever name.
“Tucano Fulano”: Seems like you didn’t read the above comments, nor the text of the second half of the “Dream” act:
**specifies that they only qualify for financial aid after all the other legal residents have applied.**
I find it truly amazing how some folks (J Stoos springs to mind) can just ignore
cogent points and reiterate irrelevant idiocies (“other terrorists by whatever name”) as if repetition will somehow make it true.
That said, I do understand the peculiar position legal immigrants are in. It’s really hard to just be glad for other people’s opportunities. I also wonder about the respective efforts at assimilation, legal vs illegal, which does affect academic success. I have no data about this.