On July 25, 2011, Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that will let students who are in the U.S. with no legal status receive private financial aid at California's public colleges, even as debate continues over a more contentious bill that would allow access to public funding. The Democratic governor signed AB130 at Los Angeles City College. It is the first of a two-bill package referred to as the California Dream Act, which is aimed at getting financial aid for college students in the country illegally.
In practical terms, it would mean that those students who already qualify for in-state tuition under a 2001 state law could apply for private funds donated to schools. Currently, undocumented immigrants are ineligible for any financial help, including private scholarships.
The Act will open a window of opportunity for those students who, through no fault of their own, were brought here illegally, who studied hard and earned a spot in a college or university but now can't afford it. Brown told a crowd of about 100 students and community leaders who gathered inside the city college’s library that “It's crucial that we invest in every child that lives and is born in this state. Signing this Dream Act is another piece of investment in people because people drives the culture, the economy."
The governor did not address the second bill in the package, which is more controversial because it would allow illegal immigrants to receive state-funded scholarships and financial aid. That bill, AB131, is in the state Senate. The legislative package authored by state Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, differs from the federal Dream Act, which would include a path to citizenship for those bought to the country illegally as children.
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