Educational opportunities for undocumented students are becoming more accessible with Gov. Jerry Brown’s recent declaration support for the California DREAM Act and the Supreme Court’s rejection of an opposition to the AB 540 bill.
The California DREAM Act is a legislation meant to allow financial aid opportunities for undocumented students. The bill was approved by the State Assembly and sent to the Senate for deliberation earlier this month. If approved by the Senate, the bill will be sent to Brown for a final decision.
“It’s going to make college education affordable as tuition is going up,” said Simon Kim, a professor in the College of Education at Cal State Long Beach. “Many undocumented students cannot afford an education. It will definitely change what they can do in terms of financial aid.”
AB 540 is another immigration reform policy that allows undocumented college students to pay reduced, in-state tuition despite being from out of the country.
On June 6, the Supreme Court fought a challenge to AB 540 that accused it of promoting preferential behavior. According to a story in the Los Angeles Times on June 7, the court rejected the challenge that tuition was being granted under graduation circumstances and had nothing to do with citizenship.
“I think [the lack of financial aid] affects AB 540 students tremendously,” Kim said. “Their parents are undocumented as well and therefore cannot get [high-paying jobs], so they may find paying for higher education challenging.”
The burden of financing a college education may be even greater for undocumented students.
“Very few students can coast through their time here at CSULB,” said Rebecca Lopez, acting director of CSULB’s School of Social Work. “But undocumented students may have additional burdens to bear as they cannot readily hold down part-time jobs to support their educational aspirations.”
Kim referred to the issue of immigration reform as one of moral conscience rather than a matter of the law. He said that students’ humanity should be more of a priority than their citizenship status.
“To me, it’s more of an ethical obligation,” said Kim. “I think all human beings have equal rights.”
Kim argues that students should be entitled to the same rights as those actually born in America because undocumented students usually do not come to the United States by choice and are simply trying to make the best of the situation they are born into.
“Often people who are opposed to this act say that because they are illegal, they should not have these rights,” Kim said. “The students who are going to be affected by this act are students who were born and educated in this country. We’re talking about students who came to this country before the age of 15. Kids like this are caught in the middle.”
Family values can also hinder the performance of undocumented students. Because their parents also lack citizenship, it is rare for anyone in the family to be legitimately employed. Therefore, the pressure is on the students as well as the parents to do everything they can to support the family unit financially.
“As first-generation college students, many of them also face additional obstacles where the expectation of family members is that the young person should be working to contribute to the overall welfare of the family,” Lopez said. “While education is certainly valued, it sometimes has to take a back seat to the economic necessities of the family.”
While immigration reform is commonly seen as a predominantly Hispanic issue, approximately one-fourth of undocumented students at CSULB are of Asian descent.
“Ultimately, we are only depriving ourselves of the additional resources that these young people can bring to all of us as they gain education and skills and then contribute those assets to the common good,” Lopez said. “There is no downside to granting all groups the same rights. The whole state loses when we don’t use all our available resources.”
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