CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES
A coalition of 80 civil rights, student and community organizations representing Asian and Pacific Islander Americans filed a legal brief Thursday with the California Supreme Court supporting a state law that allows undocumented students to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and universities.
Thousands of immigrant youths would find it impossible to afford college if the law is invalidated, said Yungsuhn Park, an attorney with the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California, which co-wrote the brief.
The state’s highest court is considering a case that challenges AB 540, which allows documented and undocumented students to pay in-state rather than out-of-state tuition if they attend at least three years of high school in California, graduate from a California high school and promise to apply for permanent residency.
The cost difference is considerable: In the current school year, fees for an out-of-state undergraduate to attend a UC school are nearly $30,000, compared with about $8,000 for a resident.
-- Carla Rivera
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