Legal News

Students and civil rights groups come to the support of AB 540

By Richard Binder

Yesterday a coalition of 80 civil rights, student and community organizations representing Asian and Pacific Islander Americans today filed a legal brief with the California Supreme Court supporting a state law that allows undocumented students to pay in-state fees at public colleges and universities.

The case challenges the 2001 state law, AB 540, allowing 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 state high school and promise to apply for permanent residency.

According to Yungshun Park, an attorney with the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California, thousands of immigrant youths would find it impossible to afford college if the law is invalidated.

In a current school year, typical fees for an out-of-state undergraduate to attend a University of California campus total nearly $30,000, compared with about $8,000 for a resident.

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Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on September 25, 2009 (boomark / email).