Brendan Pringle is an English senior and Mustang Daily conservative columnist.
It was a landmark day for illegal immigrant advocates all over the state of California when Governor Jerry Brown signed the California Dream Act — a bill that grants undocumented college students access to public education aid. As Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa lauded, “Today, California invests in the dreams of talented undocumented students and in the economic future of our state.” Oh, what a glorious day!
Hold up.
Didn’t California just cut hundreds of millions of dollars from education this past year?
Where are these millions coming from? If the government has money to distribute to illegal students, why are all the legal students paying the piper in record tuition increases?
In the words of assemblyman Tim Donnelly (R-San Bernardino): “If we had millions of dollars lying around, we would not have cut $10 million from veterans or slashed art and band programs from schools” (NBC Bay Area).
The California Dream Act is actually the second of two bills that grant undocumented college students access to educational aid. The first bill, passed in July, allows these students to receive private scholarships. The second bill goes a step further, allowing them to ride on the generosity of the California government for financial support — a government that is already struggling to keep its education system afloat.
Numbers have always been an iffy topic in California politics. Politicians can never really hide the truth about the California budget without a little public speculation. The Los Angeles Times reported that Brown “downplayed the cost to taxpayers” when he estimated that 2,500 additional students would qualify for Cal-Grants, at a cost of $14.5 million (per year).” This amounts to 1 percent of all Cal-Grant funds.
According to a Senate committee analysis, however, the addition of community college fee waivers and institutional grants bumps this total to $40 million a year (Los Angeles Times). In other words, the governor sold this legislation to the public by masking off almost two-thirds of its overall cost.
Oh, the number of student loans $40 million could pay off for “legal” students. But I digress.
If I recall correctly, the California State University (CSU) system received budget cuts to the tune of $650 million this year. A whopping $25.2 million of these cuts came from the Cal Poly budget. And, of course, this translates to tuition increases for all of us — increases that were so dramatic, they triggered campus wide demonstrations across the state.
Just in case you’re wondering, approximately one third of the tuition increase we pay this year covers financial aid. The Chancellor’s Office recommended the increase “because alternative solutions, such as limiting access to campuses with further cuts to enrollment or continuing to cut classes or services, would have dramatic effects on education.”
Hmm … somehow I don’t think opening Cal Grants and institutional grants up to illegal immigrant students is a positive solution to this fiscal problem.
Meanwhile, unemployment for college graduates hovers around 6 percent (not including the underemployed), and a large number are out “Occupying Wall Street” because they are unable to find work. At least, that’s what seems to be their general preoccupation, anyway. Protesters have achieved no general consensus as of yet.
Moral considerations are to be considered. Those who favor this bill say these students were brought here by no fault of their own. They’ve gone through our K-12 education system. Shouldn’t they be given the opportunity to attend college and be treated like every other student?
Okay, but at the same time, sponsoring the college education of illegal immigrants further incentivizes illegal immigration by rewarding those that break the law. As Donnelly notes, “(We’re) rolling out the red carpet for people who have come here the wrong way.” Wouldn’t you want to cross the border if it meant free tuition for your kids?
Citizenship is not an impossible feat by any means. It is, indeed, accessible to those who follow the rules. But when current illegals are rewarded, what message are we sending to other potential illegal immigrants? Is it really fair to those who legally attained citizenship?
Moreover, is it right that legal out-of-staters are forced to pay double in order to make up for the expenses of illegal students? Where’s the fairness in that?
It’s difficult to gauge the future impact of this legislation because undocumented persons are, well, undocumented. With such unreliable cost projections, Cal Poly professors and administrators would probably label such a program as “unsustainable.”
Shouldn’t education be “sustainable” as well?
As you mull over that ever-climbing college debt that awaits you after graduation, consider all of the illegal students you will soon be putting through college.
Surely, this will help you sleep better at night.