County Issue / College Fees for...

Pete Tafoya, President, Board of Trustees, Ventura County Community College District

Let me approach the answer from the position of the court case, “Leticia A,” in which a Superior Court judge ruled in favor of lower fees for undocumented Cal State University students. For those residents who are either in the transition of becoming a citizen or for whatever reasons haven’t become a citizen, I am in favor of that. “Leticia A.” pointed out that there are many, many residents of California who have, for whatever reasons, not sought citizenship. And their children have gone through the entire educational system. They’ve been in the country for many, many years, and they have been paying taxes. “Leticia A.” pointed out that these individuals should have the same rights as other state residents who have paid state fees in the form of taxes. Typically what you find in our college system, especially among Latinos, are individuals who have been in this country for a significant period of time and have been participating in the state economy though taxes and employment. We need to look hard at making available to these individuals the same resources that we would to our state residents.

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Allan W. Jacobs, Trustee, Ventura County Community College District

I believe that if the State of California and the college system, including community colleges, had enough money to provide open access to all students, then certainly I would agree that anybody who was eligible to attend a college or university should pay the normal fee. However, with the limited funds that we have, I believe that we need to require that undocumented or illegal aliens pay the same out-of-state fee that out-of-state students pay. I really think that it’s patently unfair for us to charge an out-of-state student from Michigan the out-of-state fee, when we wouldn’t charge an illegal alien an out-of-state fee. As much as you could argue that we ought to educate illegal aliens and anyone else who comes into the country to prepare them for citizenship, that’s fine. But as long as we have limited funds and have to make some priorities, I would say that California residents should come first, and illegal residents should be treated just like anybody else who doesn’t come from California and pay the out-of-state fees.

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Lynn Fauth, Academic Senate president, Oxnard Community College

People living in Ventura County, whether documented or not, pay taxes. They pay direct taxes through sales tax revenues on things that they buy. They pay indirect property taxes through their rent. They pay taxes just like any other residents of this county. Therefore, they are entitled to the benefits of residency, (including) resident tuition. To determine one’s status as a documented resident or not is not the job of the community college. The job of the community college is to educate all residents of the county. Higher fees have kept people away from taking the classes that they need to facilitate their integration into the United States. That’s not the America to which my ancestors emigrated. It’s an unkind America. I don’t like it. It’s against everything that this country stands for. I wonder, if this were Boston, whether or not people would ask for documentation for the large Irish population that is alleged to be there in an undocumented state. In Southern California, there’s a large Latin American population. The formality of documentation, in many cases, is racist.

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Jason Henderson, Student trustee, Ventura County Community College District

Regardless of whether we offer this fee or not, the students are already in California. I felt that it was better to have these students educated, with the same opportunities that we have, than to close them out by charging fees that most would not be able to afford. It’s an issue at all three colleges in Ventura County, but, in the district, Oxnard College probably has a larger minority population. Each college is governed by a student board. I represent those three boards which in turn represent 40,000 students in this district. People understand that unfortunately, in our society, there are undocumented students and we need to offer them the same opportunities that we have. These people are here whether we offer them an education or not. I’d rather they be educated and help in our society. I’d like them to see them contributing in more of an educational manner, hopefully being able to benefit themselves as well as our society.

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Jere Robings, Executive director, Ventura County Taxpayers Assn.

The college district has taken the position that residency and legality are two separate issues and that someone can be an illegal alien and still be a resident of the state. It’s our feeling that illegal aliens should not be considered legal residents of the state and benefit from those lower fees. The fact that taxpayers would subsidize education for illegal aliens while at the same time charging higher fees to American citizens who transfer in from another state would not seem to be a reasonable position. Longtime undocumented people were given amnesty a few years ago. What we’re talking about now is those who have come into the country since then. We disagree with schools declining to identify undocumented students, because businesses aren’t in that position either. It’s not the job of a business to determine who’s a legal citizen or not but yet they’re required to do it. Any time a business hires an employee they have to certify that person is indeed a legal citizens. We’re saying that the schools should be held to the same standards that private businesses are held.