Low-income students who live in Mexico within 45 miles of the California border could pay in-state tuition at community colleges in San Diego and Imperial counties, under the new legislation.
Abril Hernandez, a student at Southwestern Community College, sat in her car waiting in a seemingly never-ending line to cross the San Diego-Mexico border. It had already been a two-hour wait, but she knew the drill by now.
Hernandez now stays in San Diego full time. But for several years before her baby was born, she was one of approximately 7,000 students from kindergarten through college — among 100,000 people total — who cross the San Ysidro Port of Entry each day. Binational students living near the border, many of whom are U.S.-born children in low-income households, attend school in California but may live in Mexico because it’s more affordable.
Qualifying students would pay in-state tuition, which is $46 per unit compared with the average $300 non-resident fee. In previous recessions, colleges would recruit non-resident students as a strategy to produce more revenue, but “it’s a wiser economic decision for regional economies to identify and train their communities,” Rodriguez said.
Alvarez said that colleges are focused on bringing back students lost during the pandemic and that this program would not “take away any seats” from Californians. According to the bill text, non-resident students exempt through AB 91 would be reported as resident full-time equivalent students, whom the college can claim for government funds based on enrollment.
of the Tahoe Basin about a decade ago. “It took us a couple times going through the Legislature, but ultimately they supported it,” Metune said.