Counselors promote educational equality
The Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act is a bipartisan bill that impacts undocumented students who come to the U.S. before the age of 16. After five years they could become legal residents by completing two years of higher education or military service.
By Kwame Opoku-DukuThe Guardsman
As a vote on the Dream Act nears, City College Latino Service Network counselors are doing what they can to insure that eligible AB 540 students are ready.
The Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act is a bipartisan bill that impacts undocumented students who come to the U.S. before the age of 16. After five years they could become legal residents by completing two years of higher education or military service.
To qualify for AB 540 under the California Immigrant Higher Education Act: a student needs to attend a California high school for three years, have a diploma or the equivalent and write a statement saying he or she will apply for legal residency when eligible to do so. Qualification allows the student to pay resident as opposed to out-of-state tuition, which makes a difference of $2000 per semester for full time costs.
Associated Students President Elizabeth Weinberg, whose campaign highlighted education as a human right, noted the importance of students being able to afford education.
“Education is a fundamental right,” Weinberg said. “Regardless of someone’s background or situation, not having access to affordable education could really stunt someone’s livelihood. Everyone deserves education without discrimination.”
Although AB 540 came into effect in January 2002, Leticia Silva, co-chair of the AB 540 Task Force, said that as of 2009 only 450 students at the college were enrolled under the act. In order to reach more students, members of the task force will feature a faculty training event and a campus-wide event surrounding AB 540.
It’s important for teachers to be aware of these struggles, because they may need to advise a student to apply for financial aid, or to follow a career path that requires a license—like nursing or radiology—when a student may not be eligible to do so, Silva said.
Along with working with the Latino Service Network and students at the college, the task force considers reaching out to high school students as equally important in spreading awareness.
“Going out to high schools is a big part of what we do,” LSN Counselor Jorge Avila said. “We might get a call from Lincoln High saying, ‘We’re having a college fair. Could you come in and talk to the students?’”
When visiting high schools, like Mission, John O’Connell and Balboa, for general information sessions, Avila found that students do not always ask questions about AB 540.
“For a lot of students, there is sometimes a sense of shame in self-identifying as an undocumented alien. We try to inform them as much as we can without making them self-identify,” Avila said. “We let them know that if they only have two years of high school in California, that they have the right to stay in school until they are 21, so they can earn that extra year of eligibility. These are things they can’t necessarily find in fliers.”
The task force will be representing the college in an AB 540 conference at SFSU. They encourage anyone with questions to stop in to the Latino Services Network, where they help students fill out AB 540 affidavits, apply for scholarships that don’t require identification and push for the Dream Act.
“I’m doing everything I can to get the word out,” Silva said. “It’s really important to me.”
