Esteban Cortez / The Collegian

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law the California Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minor Act, also known as the DREAM Act. Opponents of the law have raised questions of the cost and effect of the bill.

On July 9, Brown signed Assembly Bill 130 known as part one of the California DREAM Act, which will give undocumented students access to private scholarships and grants. The law will take effect on Jan. 1, 2012.

The signing of AB 131 soon followed on Oct. 8 giving undocumented students access to financial aid at public universities and community colleges. The law will take effect Jan. 1, 2013.

Fresno State student Alex Chavez said the California DREAM Act is not only an education opportunity but rather a benefit for the California economy.

“New Mexico, which has their version of the DREAM Act, has granted in-state tuition and financial aid, [the state] has been quite prosperous,” Chavez said.

Critics are concerned with the cost of the new laws. “The state has a big deficit. When did we get this extra money to give away?” Fresno State student and chairman of Fresno State College Republicans Matt Shupe said.

The California of Finance estimates about 2,500 students will benefit from AB 131. The law will cost the state $14.5 million which is 1 percent of Cal-Grant funds.

“I wouldn’t want to call it a cost but rather an investment,” Chavez said. “When we talked about American kids getting an education, we call that an investment but that’s not the case with undocumented students.

“These are tax dollars that our parents have paid too and they are long over due,” Chavez added.

Assemblyman Tim Donnelly in an opinion piece for the UC Berkeley newspapers stated that the California DREAM Act is an incentive for future immigrants. “Students who are in the country illegally cannot legally get a job in California.”

So arguments that this is an investment are, at best, misguided,” Donnelly added.

Donnelly, along with other opponents of the new law, have begun collecting signatures to overturn AB 131 which they see as unfair to California students.

“Conservatives will argue that we (undocumented students) are taking seats and I believe that we’re not,” Chavez says. “I want to defend that by saying that I’m competing for my seat at this university just like everybody else who’s competing for their seat.”

To qualify for this new legislation, students must meet certain requirements such as having attended and graduated from a high school after attending a California school for at least three years. Students must also show they are in the process of applying to legalize their immigration status.

Undocumented students must also meet specific financial and academic standards.

“Once people are informed and know more about it they will see that most of the fear tactics that the opposition is using are just that,” Fresno State political science student Luis Ojeda said. “And there is no credibility to them.”

The goal of many supporters of this new law is to pass similar legislation at the federal level and to help undocumented students gain access to a college education.

“Our main goal would be to enact a federal Dream Act that would be the same throughout the United States rather than doing it by a state-by-state-basis,” Ojeda said. “But since Congress has been ineffective lately at doing much, I think the state-by-state process has been adequate.”

While Arizona, Georgia and Alabama have passed harsh immigration laws, California has joined states like Texas and Illinois in passing laws that benefit undocumented students.

Political science professor at Fresno State Thomas Holyoke said, “If we don’t give them the opportunity for a university education then what we are creating is a large permanent underclass.

“All the indicators show that in California and everywhere in the United States the future is going to be in advanced jobs in which you need a solid university education,” Holyoke said.

To inform parents and undocumented students, the Education Leadership Foundation and other organizations will host a summit Nov. 12 at Fresno State. The New Chapter in Higher Education: AB 540 event will be held at the Pete Peters Educational Center. The summit will include presentations and workshops among other presentations for students and parents.