The New York Times is reporting that in a unanimous decision, the California Supreme Court ruled today that illegal immigrants can be eligible for the same reduced tuition at public colleges and universities as legal residents of the state.
The ruling is the latest in a series of contests about state immigration policies. In addition to Arizona’s strict new immigration law, which the United States Department of Justice has challenged in court, nine other states have laws similar to California’s, with lawsuits pending in Nebraska and Texas.
The NYT report said that currently, students who attend at least three years of high school in California and graduate are eligible for in-state tuition at public schools, which can save them as much as US$12,000 a year compared with students who come from other states.
Illegal immigrants remain ineligible for state or federal financial aid.
The California court found that the 2001 state law does not conflict with a federal prohibition on education benefits for illegal immigrants based on residency, in part because United States citizens from other states who attend high school in California may also benefit.
Supporters of immigration reform hope that legislation that would offer some illegal immigrant students access to federal financial aid and a way toward citizenship will be taken up again in the lame-duck session of Congress that convened today.
“This law makes higher education affordable for so many students who have the added difficulty of not being eligible for federal financial aid,” said Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the NYT said.
