CA Dream act misleads all, including its beneficiaries

BY ESTHER J. CEPEDA, Washington Post Writers Group

Just hours after Gov. Jerry Brown signed the California Dream Act, which will allow illegal immigrant students to be eligible for state-funded financial aid at public universities and community colleges, celebratory email began circulating. 

“Wow, this great and wonderful news for our Hispanic students. This is winning!” said one jubilant respondent to a mass email about the new legislation. Slated to begin in 2013, it will also make undocumented students eligible for institutional grants and waivers within California’s higher education community. 

Winning? Politically, maybe, though that's a stretch -- this new development will surely cause more ire to be directed toward California's illegal immigrants. The legislation is terribly misleading to many constituencies, especially to the newly eligible students themselves. 

The text of a news release on the governor’s website said the law  “allows top students who are on the path to citizenship to apply for college financial aid.” 

First, it does not confer citizenship. Given that there is little chance that either comprehensive immigration reform or piecemeal legislation such as the federal DREAM Act will be passed anytime soon -- such bills have been routinely shot down for 10 years and the current rage over immigration won't wane until long after the economy gets on track -- the “on the path to citizenship” bit is a tremendous overstatement. But it's one that certain interest groups want to hear because it pretends there is a national political momentum behind such moves. 

The part about “top students” is a reach as well. California is extremely liberal with student tuition assistance and, even in the case of the so-called “competitive awards,” students with grade point averages as low as 2.0 -- a “C” -- can qualify for money that never has to be paid back. It was probably included to make Californians feel better about the new beneficiaries of their tax dollars. 

The truth is that such grants usually make a tiny dent in the costs of attending college. Even if a student goes to a community college, there is often a huge shortfall between the Cal Grant awards and the full cost of tuition, fees, books and living or transportation expenses so as to require student loans. And illegal immigrants aren’t eligible for any kind of federal student aid. 

But the costs are not the biggest point of contention -- truly resourceful students usually find ways to pay for college, and California estimates that only about 1 percent of all Cal Grant funds could potentially go to undocumented students. 

Consider the stark realities of the situation. The bill was sold to Californians as a benefit to the state’s pained tax base and indeed, most states know what projected revenues can be assumed for every newly minted college graduate. In Illinois, it is estimated that within six years of a student enrolling in a community college, income tax revenue will grow by 70 percent compared to 7 percent for low-income taxpayers who did not attend community college. Even students who didn’t graduate showed major increases in income tax payments. 

But illegal immigrants -- even those with hard-earned college degrees -- cannot legally work in California, or anywhere else, in this country. 

It is nothing short of tragic that the very people who push in-state tuition or financial aid opportunities for illegal immigrants never mention the fact that unless a wide-ranging federal amnesty program is put into place, there are no career paths for these students.   

No one ever talks about the untold number who made their way through college and, now are older than 35, the cutoff stated in the version of the DREAM Act that was introduced to Congress last summer. But they, like other undocumented college grads who can’t access legitimate jobs in their chosen field of study, are out there, just scraping by.

And does anyone really want more graduates to join the ranks of desperate jobseekers? The September unemployment numbers said the national unemployment rate stands at 9.1 percent but California's rate is a painful 12.1 percent. 

The California Dream Act isn’t careful planning designed to give a boost to the state’s illegal immigrants or benefit the general population -- and referendum papers to overturn the new law have already been filed. It is the mirror opposite of tactics other states are using to diminish illegal immigrant populations: feel-good legislation that only scores political points for politicians seeking re-election. 
        
Esther Cepeda's email address is estherjcepeda(at)washpost.com. 

(c) 2011, Washington Post Writers Group

 

 

Comments

[Don Honda]

Thank you, Esther. One thing, though. AB 131 (CA DREAM Act) will provide fee (tuition) waivers and EOPS (living expenses for books, laptops, food, cars, etc) while in a CA Community College, which do not require a minimum GPA. You are right in that most of the other State Aid available requires only a 2.0-2.6 GPA for free money that will not be paid back.

We're going to repeal the California DREAM Act (AB 131) and RecaLL Governor Brown, Too.

There are already 5,000 volunteers to start getting signatures with petitions ready this Tuesday. If there was $1Million to be spent, the petitions would be ready in one month. Donnelly is trying to get this done through social media and radio stations.

Here’s more info at:

https://www.facebook.com/standwithcalifornia

http://www.donnellyforassembly.com/

http://taxpayerrevolution.org/

http://stopab131.com/

https://www.facebook.com/StopAB131

http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=5ugnlcdab&v=0011iPQ44Hokko0R8RrNIvac21sQDJco6R5pvaHhcXlEgqfrtwP9uYKh3cOrgHhwj_1aVDLtNDQpIOE_H5kmANCPlj1fu4SQxbTKw3KfQGbmKI%3D

http://californiascrusader.com/recall-governor-brown/

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dream-20110901,0,5365623.story

For the first year alone:

“It is not known how many undocumented students would be eligible for the aid. A Senate committee analysis estimated the bill’s cost at about $40 million. That includes $13 million for Cal Grants, which average about $4,500; up to $15 million in community college waivers; and $12 million in institutional aid from the University of California and California State University systems.”

This is clearly Economic Discrimination against US Citizens, Legal Californian Residents, and Legal Immigrants who have seen their tuition rates rise dramatically while not being eligible or have seen their financial aid reduced. It is this discriminated population who ARE our FUTURE.

Also, with the heavy recruitment of out-of-state and Foreign Nationals who can pay nearly twice the in-state tuition rate to refund our defunct education system, Legal Californian Residents and Legal Immigrants will be “priced out” and “placed out” of THEIR American Dream, THEIR higher education.