On Jan. 1, the second part of the California DREAM Act took effect. The bill, signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown on Oct. 8, 2011, allows children of illegal immigrants who are accepted to a public California University to apply for Cal-Grants, a financial aid program serving University of California, California State University and California Community Colleges students. This makes California the third state, after Texas and New Mexico, to allow illegal immigrants to access financial aid for public universities.
The California DREAM Act is a pair of acts passed by the California State Legislature that pertains to undocumented students receiving financial aid in order to attend California public universities. The first bill, which Governor Brown signed into law in July, allows the children of illegal immigrants to receive financial aid in the form of private grants and scholarships. Both bills were voted predominantly along party lines, with all Democratic members of each legislative chamber voting for the bills and the vast majority of Republicans opposing them.
In order to receive financial aid from the Cal-Grants program or any scholarships or grants, undocumented students must first meet AB 540 criteria. This criteria, named after an assembly bill passed in 2001, requires the undocumented students to have attended a California high school for more than three years, graduated from high school or earned a GED, enrolled at an accredited California college or university and stated the intention to file to become a legal citizen, if possible.
Says Aragon financial aid and scholarship advisor Rena Jan, “[The process of obtaining a Cal-Grant] is really simple. It’s just one form, the Cal-Grant GPA Release Form, and what that does is basically just gives me permission to calculate the student’s GPA and submit it to Cal-Grant. And then what the student has to do is fill out a financial aid application, either the FAFSA, the free application for federal student aid, or the Cal. DREAM Act, which is the application for undocumented students.”
Because of the more recent bill, undocumented students can now apply for roughly $38 million in financial aid. Supporters like author and primary sponsor Gil Cedillo, a Democratic state senator who has made the issue of illegal immigration a legislative priority, view this as a major success as it increases access to higher education. In a statement made upon the signing of the legislation, Cedillo noted, “Today, Ana and Maria Gomez, Jaime Kim, David Cho, Pedro Ramirez—and thousands of other students who are some of the best and brightest in California, have been told by our Governor and legislative leaders that you are welcome here, that you have something to contribute, that you can be proud of what you have accomplished and that your talents and ambition will not go to waste.”
Additional supporters note that the recent legislation is one of the only ways to lift these students out of poverty. Sophomore Fabio Gallardo notes, “Illegal immigrants in the United States are often times criticized for statistically having worse grades than their legal counterparts. However, without legislation like this, these students will have no incentive to try in school. So, without the tools really succeed, future generations of immigrants will suffer from the vicious cycle of poverty and ignorance.”
However, opponents found the bill to be irresponsible, claiming that allowing more students to obtain aid exacerbates the state’s already faulty budget situation. Speaking on the senate floor, Republican State Senator Robert Dutton explained, “The problem we have right now with the state of California’s budget is that we don’t even have enough money to provide financial aid for students that are here legally, let alone ones that are here illegally.”
Additionally, concerns have been raised over how the university system will fairly grant access to various academic support programs. Jan, while overall supporting the measure, notes, “There is an issue with trying to figure out how they can offer support programs for documented and undocumented students fairly, like with the EOP, or extended opportunities program. They only have so many spots open, so some people might be concerned that if they offer it to undocumented students, that it would be taking away that spot for a documented student.”
After California’s passage, a similarly-named bill, the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act is being considered by the New York State Legislature, also granting undocumented university students access to public aid. Further debate is expected to continue on this contentious issue as, according to the College Board, an estimated 65,000 undocumented students graduate from U.S. high schools each year.
