Sacramento – Today, the California State Assembly Committee on Higher Education approved Senate Bill (SB) 141, authored by State Senator Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), with a broad bipartisan vote. This measure will restore access to California colleges, universities and scholarships for children who are U.S. citizens, but are forced to live abroad as a result of their parents’ deportation.

“When undocumented parents are deported, their U.S born children are often forced to move abroad, losing their state residency, and with it, access to California institutions of higher education.  Today, these children, American Citizens, are growing up outside the U.S., yet their desire to return to their birth home continues to live within them,” said Correa.
SB 141 would exempt qualified students living abroad from paying nonresident tuition at the University of California, California State Universities and California Community Colleges.  Specifically, SB 141 stipulates that a student must be living abroad as a result of the deportation of a parent or guardian, be a current U.S. citizen, have lived in California immediately prior to moving abroad, attend a California secondary school for at least 3 years, and be in their first academic year as a student in a California institution of higher education.

“These American children lack many basic services that are rightfully theirs. It is important they are able to expand their education without the cost barriers that would normally preclude them,” he added.
SB 141 was approved in the Higher Education Committee with ten “aye” votes and no “no” votes.   The bill will next be considered by the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

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