Immigration advocates laud ruling in CA. college tuition case

Michigan-based immigration rights advocates are hailing a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that left in place a lower court ruling that said California’s university system can charge in-state tuition rates to undocumented residents who live in the state.

The Supreme Court rejected a request to hear an appeal on the case, which in effect made the appeals court ruling the law in the 9th Circuit. The case involves a California law which allows any student who has graduated from a high school in that state to receive in-state tuition. It had been challenged by a conservative group on grounds it created “preferential treatment” for undocumented youth, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Samantha Nawrocki, a spokesperson for the immigration rights group One Michigan, praised the ruling.

“We are glad to see today’s decision from the Supreme Court to uphold California’s in-state tuition policy. This shows the need of these policies for undocumented students who have attended schools in the same state in which they hope to attend college in,” Nawrocki said in an email to Michigan Messenger. “In Michigan, we see many students graduate high school but are burdened by the out of state or even international rates that universities apply to them even though they have attended American public education most of their lives. Today’s decision gives all the universities in Michigan a pathway to promote these policies in which they have been slow to implement.”

Unfortunately, the decision is not binding in Michigan because the appeals court only has jurisdiction in the 9th Circuit, which includes the westernmost states.