By Dexter Gauntlett
Daily Bruin Reporter
A California state assembly bill that was enrolled Tuesday and
is awaiting Gov. Gray Davis’ signature aims to make it easier
for non-California residents ““ including undocumented
immigrants ““ to pay for college.
The exemption would aid all non-residents of California who have
graduated from a California high school or completed an equivalent
degree by allowing them to pay the cheaper resident fees, as
opposed to the more expensive non-resident fees.
If the student is an undocumented immigrant, they must sign an
affidavit, a prepared statement that obliges them to become a legal
citizen upon becoming eligible for naturalization.
While California community colleges and California State
Universities would be obliged to follow the bill, the University of
California would not. Instead, the UC Board of Regents would decide
whether to adhere to the bill.
Should the bill pass and the regents choose to adopt it, it
means a non-resident undergraduate UC student meeting the
qualifications would pay $4,185 in tuition, rather than the current
$10,702.
The governor will have until Oct. 13 to sign the bill, which was
authored by 50th district Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh. If the bill
is enacted, it would take effect January 2002.
The bill targets a specific group of students who have proven
themselves academically but have no legal documentation, said
Ricardo Lara, a spokesman for Firebaugh.
“We’ve encountered several valedictorians out of
central California who had no idea they were undocumented
 until they applied to college,” Lara said.
But Barbara Coe, chairwoman for the California Coalition for
Immigration Reform, is opposed to the bill. She said billions of
dollars are used a year to provide Medicare, welfare, housing and
education to illegal immigrants already.
“Why should citizen taxpayers, many of whom can’t
pay to get their own kids to college, pay for the educations of
lawbreakers? They are illegal aliens,” she said.
Coe considers the bill discrimination against out of state legal
citizens who must pay the non-resident fee and said she has no
confidence in the enforcement of the affidavit.
Assemblyman Paul Koretz, whose district includes UCLA,
co-authored the bill.
Scott Svonkin, chief of staff for Koretz, said illegal
immigrants pay taxes through their paychecks.
“Illegal immigrants take the jobs many wouldn’t
want,” he said. “They work longer hours, but because
they come here in a way that’s not traditional, they
don’t receive the services that you and I do.”
Both Svonkin and Koretz’s parents were immigrants. Svonkin
said they see immigrants as a valuable resource to California.
“These people are here and we should educate them,”
Svonkin said. “They’re part of our society.”
“(Koretz) believes that young people should not be
deprived of an education because their parents were forced to come
here under dangerous circumstances,” Svonkin said.