WHEREAS, sixty-five thousand undocumented students graduate from high school every year who are potentially eligible for AB540 status,

WHEREAS, AB540 undocumented students are not currently eligible for any form of financial aid,

WHERAS, AB540 students allows specified nonresidents to meet state residency
requirements for the purposes of establishing tuition levels at
the California State University (CSU) and California Community
Colleges (CCC). Specifically, this bill would:

1)Permit a nonresident to pay resident tuition at CSU or CCC
provided that they meet all of the following requirements:

a) Attended high school in California for three or more
years;

b) Graduated from a California high school; and,

c) Continues his or her education at a California
institution of higher education within one year of high
school graduation or on or before January 1, 2002.

2)Request the Regents of the University of California (UC) to
also exempt persons meeting the above criteria from paying
non-resident tuition.

WHEREAS, thirty-three percent of the fees paid to the University of California are categorized as return to aid and awarded as institutional aid based on merit and financial need,

WHEREAS, AB540 undocumented students pay into this financial pool but are ineligible to apply for institutional aid,

WHEREAS, the 32% fee hike passed by the University of California Regents has left many undocumented AB540 students without an affordable or accessible education,

WHEREAS,  the Chancellor of the University of California, Irvine recently discussed the proposal for equal opportunity to access institutional aid at the Council of Chancellors’ meeting in January,

 LET IT BE RESOLVED, that the ASUCI Legislative Council endorses the right of AB540 undocumented students to have an equal opportunity to qualify for institutional aid and that the ASUCI Legislative Council will endorse the proposal being presented at the March UC Regents meeting to secure the right of AB540 undocumented students to be eligible for institutional financial aid.