Losing Out on a Dream? : Education: Tuition changes cloud future for illegal immigrants who had hopes of attending UC schools, other state colleges.

For weeks, Jorge Candelaria had the same nightmare.

“There was no sun and everything was darkness,” said the Manual Arts High School senior. “I was on a road where I couldn’t see where I was going or what I was doing.”

Candelaria understood his bleak vision, he said. The lack of sun symbolized the end of his education, and the dark road warned of a perilous future without college.

Candelaria, who asked that his real name not be used, arrived here from El Salvador two years ago. He is among thousands of illegal immigrants in California reeling from a state court case they say may prevent them from going to college.

After the case was resolved last year, the nine University of California campuses this winter began charging illegal immigrants out-of-state rather than in-state tuition, a difference of $7,700 a year.

Although the case affects only UC schools, state community colleges abided by the ruling and began charging out-of-state tuition for the spring semester, which started this month at many schools.

A court hearing April 20 will determine whether the California State system is bound by the ruling.

The decision will affect only about 100 UC students but about 14,000 at state community colleges, officials estimate.

The rate increases have caused students such as Candelaria, who has a 3.92 grade point average, to wonder whether they can afford college. The changes also have raised questions about whether illegal immigrants should continue to be allowed to attend state universities or colleges in the first place.

One person who says a firm “yes” is Virginia Ford, coordinator of the college incentive magnet program at Manual Arts High. Many of the students who may be affected by the court case have lived in Los Angeles for years, she said, and have no intention of returning to their native lands.

“Some are going to school while working and helping their families,” she said. “Some are not legally able to work, but work anyway. They do not have any extra money to pay for school.”

Reaction on campuses has been mixed.

At UCLA, junior Judson Shannon 22, opposed the idea of letting illegal immigrants attend the University of California. “They are illegal. It would be difficult for me to . . . (attend a university under the same circumstances) in a foreign country. . . .

“The ability of people to succeed in the U.S. has sort of been squeezed out with the growing number of people living here,” said the philosophy major. “People graduating now are taking jobs they are overqualified for. I’m getting a 3.7 grade average, but I’m questioning how significant that will be.”

Melanie Goldstein, 22, a senior political science major, disagreed: “Anything that people think narrows their chances, they are opposed to. I think it’s petty. These students have worked hard their whole lives. Why should they be denied entrance?”

“If more educated Hispanics go back into the Hispanic community, the (Caucasian and Latino) communities as a whole reap the benefit,” added Angela Mihelson, 21, a senior biology major.

Some high school students who are competing for spots at UC campuses said undocumented immigrants should not attend the University of California. The UC draws from the top 12.5% of the state’s high school graduates.

“I believe they should receive all the food and shelter they need to survive in our system,” said senior Mary Likins, 17, who has the top grade point average in her class at Royal High School in Simi Valley.

“But I think they should wait for citizenship before they get extra things such as in-state tuition.”

Classmate Matt Eisele, 17, who planned to apply to UCLA, said that undocumented immigrants should attend community colleges and obtain citizenship before taking spots at UC schools.

Dorsey High School junior Gary Balfour, 16, disagreed.

“Everyone should have a chance to learn,” said Balfour, who also planned to apply to UCLA. Besides, he said, “If citizens get appropriate grades and do what they’re supposed to in high school, people who aren’t citizens wouldn’t have a chance to take their place in college.”

The UC system has admitted citizens and illegal immigrants on an equal basis since 1985, when an Alameda County court ruled that the schools should consider residence applications of undocumented students “in the same manner and on the same terms” as other students.

That ruling remained in force until a state court of appeal decision on a 1986 lawsuit by former deputy UCLA registrar David P. Bradford.

Bradford refused to enroll undocumented students as residents, and complained that UCLA prevented him from reporting the students to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, as the law required.

Bradford says the University forced him to resign over the dispute, while the University said he resigned in protest over the new policy. He now works as a court clerk in Los Angeles.

The appeal court ruling, upheld by the state Supreme Court last year, not only requires undocumented students to pay out-of-state tuition, but makes them ineligible for most state grants at UC schools.

The court said that undocumented aliens who don’t register with the INS can’t establish residence, and residence was a “reasonable requirement” for in-state tuition, said Tom Nussbaum, vice chancellor and general counsel for the state Community College system. The court also said the state had a valid interest in educating legal residents and conserving fiscal resources for their benefit, he said.

The decision will not immediately affect state grants or enrollment policies at private colleges, officials said.

To avoid the increased tuition, some high school advisers had urged undocumented high school seniors to enroll in community college last semester. Signing up for a class before the new rates took effect enabled students to qualify for in-state tuition.

Although this strategy might help some, educators say the new rates place many students in a precarious position.

“I almost feel like I’m leading a charge over a cliff because there’s no place for them to go,” said principal Philip Saldivar of Jefferson High School.

“I’m saying you need to take advanced placement classes for college, although it’s uncertain that (the students) will be accepted (by the colleges).”

Candelaria, who wants to become a teacher, hopes the situation changes before next fall when he is eligible to start college.

He has earned more than 20 units of college credit in advanced-placement classes, but doesn’t know if he could afford out-of-state tuition. “I don’t know how I’m going to pay the extra money they are going to charge,” said Candelaria, who lives with his mother.

“Undocumented immigrants will not go to college,” he said. “That’s going to bring society more homeless, and the government will have to help these people by having them on welfare. It’s unfair. I don’t know why they do that, because we want to study.”

The decision has changed his view of America, he said.

“People say it’s the perfect country. But it’s just the opposite because you have to face all these problems. You can’t work (if you’re undocumented) and now, maybe, you can’t even go to college.”

Maria Hidalgo, 19, a senior with a 3.8 grade point average at Manual Arts, said the Bradford decision may also thwart her plans.

“I came to this country because I had a dream,” said Hidalgo, who arrived two years ago from Honduras. “I want to be somebody in this life. . . . My family is poor. I think if I become a professional person, I’ll be able to help them.”

Hidalgo, who asked that her real name be withheld, said the court decision was “not fair. In this school, there are a high percentage of Hispanic students and most of them want to succeed. (On the other hand) there are a lot of legal people who are gang members. They ditch school. . . . I think that they have more opportunities to get accepted than we do.”

Hidalgo, who lives with an aunt, hopes to become a psychologist. She attended a summer program at the UC Santa Barbara and wants to study there.

“My adviser told me to apply to the community colleges, but I don’t want to go. I’m looking for a more sophisticated career. I have to apply to the private universities because they might give me some money.”

Jack Wright, the college counselor at Franklin High School in Highland Park for the last 22 years, has sent hundreds of illegal immigrants to college. He also says the new court decision is wrong.

“I have former students who are data analysts,” he says. “I have graduates from Occidental College and Cal State who are teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

“They (later) qualified for amnesty. But at the time I got them into college, they had no cards, no nothing. I’ve got kids in 103 colleges. You tell me that I did something wrong. I’ll never apologize.”

High Tuition for Students From Out of State

Out-of-state tuition and fees are about four times higher than in-state fees at UC schools.

Illegal immigrants who enter UCLA next fall, for example, would pay $10,584 annually compared to the in-state fee of $2,885. That includes a $550 tuition increase for the 1992-93 school year.

Out-of-state tuition at community colleges averages $103 per unit, compared to $6 in-state.