When I was looking to go to college, I had to keep my search mostly within my home state of Georgia. While I love the place, my affection for it was a secondary concern to the cost of out-of-state tuition most everywhere else.
But if you’re an illegal anywhere in the U.S. and want to attend a branch of the University of California, you don’t have to worry. While the state just hiked out-of-state tuition rates again, it’s policy of accepting illegal alien students — who have no papers to check, and can thus simply claim to be California residents — leads to California’s citizens paying their bills.
As The College Fix reports: “The University of California Board of Regents voted this month to increase tuition for out-of-state students by 3.5 percent, a hike that translates to almost $1,000 in additional tuition. … One group of students who will be unaffected by the out-of-state hike, however: Illegal immigrants, who retain California residency even as they remain in the country illegally.”
When The Fix asked if illegals would be charged the higher rate, they were told: “UC does not ask its students nor applicants for their immigration status. California residents pay in-state tuition, and they are required to show proof of residence.”
Out-of-state tuition is so high because public colleges are subsidized with residents’ tax dollars. Residents have already paid into the system whether or not they wish to attend. Out-of-state students have not, so they are charged more.
Yet illegal aliens are not capable of providing an official history of residence and tax returns. No one has a clue how many actually contribute to the tax base, whether via a stolen SSN or otherwise. The IRS estimates that about half do, but no one knows.
California, with its policy of flouting federal law on illegal immigration, has thus created this absurd situation. Citizens get screwed, out-of-state residents get screwed, and out-of-country residents with no papers or faked papers get subsidized.
People who are not here legally are taking benefits that would have gone to state residents who already paid for them anyway. Heck, non-citizen immigrants outside the state who followed the rules, and want to attend a college in California, can’t even get this break.
Unless they doctor some papers. Frankly, an incentive has been created for everyone to do so.
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