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Judge Upholds State Law Giving Illegal Immigrants Resident Status on Tuition

A Yolo County Superior Court judge upheld a state law allowing public colleges and universities to charge in-state fees to illegal immigrants.

The class action lawsuit filed in December by 42 out-of-state students attending college or university in the state claimed that the tuition break discriminated against U.S. citizens.

Out-of-state students pay more than California residents or immigrants in the process of getting documentation.

The plaintiffs’ attorney, Michael J. Brady, a partner with Redwood City-based Ropers Majeski Kohn & Bentley, said California violated a 1996 federal law that says any state that offers a tuition break to illegal immigrants must offer the same discounted rate to all U.S. citizens.

Brady said out-of-state students have been charged tuition illegally by being denied the benefit of in-state tuition fees while students from other countries are not.

“Most Californians can’t believe that an American citizen is penalized in tuition fees,” said Brady. “It is one thing to treat an alien equally, it is another to treat an American citizen unjust.”

Brady said an American citizen from another state who started at UC San Diego in 2002 and graduated this year would have paid $75,000 more than a California student.


Appeal Coming

“Many of these kids need this benefit,” said Brady. He will file an appeal with the Court of Appeal in Sacramento.

The class action lawsuit represents 80,000 out-of-state students who have attended the three California public college systems schools.

All three California public college systems, the California Community Colleges system, California State University’s 23 campuses, and the University of California schools, have a very disaggregated tuition fee structure for in-state versus out-of-state students.

UCSD out-of-state undergraduates are paying $18,684 more a year than residents for the same class load.

San Diego State University nonresident undergraduates paid more than three times as much as California residents for annual tuition during the 2006-07 school year.

In-state students paid $3,144 this year for full-time study and out-of-state students paid up to $10,170 for the same 15 units of study.


Ruling Affects Few

Jason Foster, director of media relations at SDSU, said the university is not in a position to interpret the pros and cons of the law recently upheld. He said the campus has to follow the law, and the standards under the law.

Foster said the number of illegal immigrant students who meet the criteria to pay in-state tuition is extremely low. Just 60 of SDSU’s 34,000 students receive the reduced fee under the state law.

The San Diego Community College District, or SDCCD, estimates that 680 students of its 50,000 student body are out-of-state or alleged illegal immigrants.

California residents taking courses at one of SDCCD’s schools, City, Mesa and Miramar colleges, will pay $26 per credit this academic year versus $160 per credit paid by nonresidents. The inflated fee is more than 500 percent higher.

John Nunes, assistant director of public information and government relations at SDCCD, said the impact of nonresident students enrolled is minimal on the district’s three campuses.

Under state law, nonresidents who are illegal immigrants must have attended high school in state for a minimum of three years, have graduated from a California high school or attained the equivalent, and filed an affidavit confirming these requirements.

“And if you are indeed undocumented you have to show that you are in the process of being legalized,” added Nunes.

The affidavit also requires applicants to state that they have filed an application to legalize their immigration status or will file an application as soon as they are eligible to do so.

Legal U.S. citizens can relocate and seek residency in California to be considered for in-state tuition fee as well.

To be considered a California resident for the purpose of tuition fees, an out-of-state student must live in California for more than a year. In addition to the 12-month residency, the student must relinquish residence in other states, show intent to establish residency in California and demonstrate financial independence.

Unmarried undergraduates from other states qualify as financially independent, if their parents do not claim them as dependents for tax purposes for two preceding years and if their annual income is sufficient to meet their needs.

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