Equal Access to Higher Education

1. Equal Access to Higher Education Undocumented Student College Admissions

2. Presentation Content • Your immigration status • Admissions • Paying for college • Wrap up on AB540 (if needed) • How to file applications • Troubleshooting • Questions and Answers

3. Presentation Content • Your immigration status • Admissions • Paying for college • AB540: In-State Tuition • How to file applications • Troubleshooting • Get Involved! • Questions & Answers

4. How do you become undocumented? • Enter without immigration status • Cross the border • “Jump ship” • Enter with status and then lose the status • Overstay the visa(e.g. stay more than 6 months on a visitor’s visa) • Break visa restrictions (e.g. working student visa) • Turns out you did not qualify for your current status (e.g. permanent resident)

5. Overstaying your visa 1998/3 1998/4 2001/4 2001/8 2002/6 2002/12 Legal Status Undocumented Legal Status Legal Status Visitor’s visa (B1/B2) Issued:1996 Expires:2006

6. What is a visa Visa type This is NOT the date you lose status!

7. Overstaying your visa 6 months of allowed stay 2002/6 Date of Entry 2002/12 Last date of allowed stay Legal Status Undocumented

8. Look at the I-94 for your date of entry Your date of entry

9. Presentation Content • Your immigration status • Admissions • Paying for college • AB540: In-State Tuition • How to file applications • Troubleshooting • Get Involved! • Questions and Answers

10. Admissions • Can I attend college? Yes!

11. Admissions • Can I attend college? Yes! • Is my admissions protected by law? It’s not defined…Statement by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on 5/9/08 • DHS does not require any school to determine a student’s status (i.e., whether or not he or she is legally allowed to study). • DHS also does not require any school to request immigration status information prior to enrolling students or to report to the government if they know a student is out of status, except in the case of those who came on student visas or for exchange purposes and are registered with the Student Exchange and Visitor Program.

12. Admissions • You can attend any college • University of California System • California State University System • Community Colleges • Universities and Colleges in other states • Private Colleges • Graduate programs (Master’s, Doctorates) • Not confirmed yet • Professional Schools (Law school, medical school, etc) • Certain jobs require a state license, which you cannot do without a SSN (teacher, barber, etc)

13. Presentation Content • Your immigration status • Admissions • Paying for college • AB540: In-State Tuition • How to file applications • Troubleshooting • Get Involved! • Questions and Answers

14. Paying for college

15. What is In-State Tuition • You pay taxes, the state pays you back • With in-state tuition, the cost will only be 1/3 or 1/4 of the original cost. • Room and Board expenses are the same.

16. Paying for college

17. Options for undocumented students Public Colleges • In-State Tuition (AB540) • Private Colleges • Institutional Financial Aid • Private Scholarshipskrcla.org/en/Scholarships • Private Loans krcla.org/en/ab540

18. Presentation Content • Your immigration status • Admissions • Paying for college • AB540: In-State Tuition • How to file applications • Troubleshooting • Get Involved! • Questions and Answers

19. What is AB540? Requirements • 3 years of high school attendance in California • Graduate from a high school in California or GED • Must be Undocumented, US Citizen, or Permanent Resident • Exempts the student from out-of-state tuition, when the student does not meet current regulations for establishing residency. • Applies to: • Citizen or LPR: if the student has been out of state for her/his last year in high school • Undocumented: if the student meets the requirements.

20. Filing the AB540 form • File the AB540 form after choosing your college • File the AB540 form if you encounter problems with admissions

21. AB540 Recipients in UC by Immigration Status Source: UC Office of the President. 2007 Annual Report on AB 540 Tuition Exemptions for the 2005-06 Academic Year. Page 5

22. AB540 Recipients in UC by Immigration Status • “Documented students” are those who are documented U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or holders of an immigrant visa. • “Potentially undocumented students” are students who appear in the Corporate Student System as neither U.S. citizens, permanent residents, nor approved petitioners, and who are not non-immigrant students as defined above. This category almost certainly overstates the true number of undocumented students at UC, since it includes students who are likely to be documented but simply have incomplete student records (for example, many students in this category appear to have a social security number). • “Other” refers to students who are approved petitioners for immigrant visas, which means they are not subject to deportation, but they are also not capable of establishing residency or receiving federal, state or institutional aid.

23. AB540 Recipients in UC by Race and Ethnicity Source: UC Office of the President. 2007 Annual Report on AB 540 Tuition Exemptions for the 2005-06 Academic Year. Page 11

24. AB540 Recipients in UCby Race and Ethnicity Source: UC Office of the President. 2007 Annual Report on AB 540 Tuition Exemptions for the 2005-06 Academic Year. Page 11

25. Presentation Content • Your immigration status • Admissions • Paying for college • AB540: In-State Tuition • How to file applications • Troubleshooting • Get Involved! • Questions and Answers

26. How to file college applications • Do not lie. Skip. • Don’t say “I’m illegal”. Say “I’m an AB540 student” • The system assumes that you are a citizen. You need to proactively check that they are NOT taking you for a citizen.

27. Filing the UC online application • Choose “No Selection” for Country of Citizenship • Leave all other immigration related questions (SSN, visa, etc) blank

28. Filing the AB540 form • File the AB540 form after choosing your college • File the AB540 form if you encounter problems with admissions

29. Filing the AB540 form

30. Filing the AB540 form

31. The AB540 Form AFFIDAVIT: I, the undersigned, declare under penalty of perjury (….) I hereby declare that, if I am an alien without lawful immigration status, I have filed an application to legalize my immigration status or will file an application as soon as I am eligible to do so. (…)

32. Filing the AB540 form • If you make mistakes in the AB540 form or the college application, fix it as soon as possible with the admissions office

33. Presentation Content • Your immigration status • Admissions • Paying for college • AB540: In-State Tuition • How to file applications • Troubleshooting • Get Involved! • Questions and Answers

34. Troubleshooting • Submitting the AB540 form fixes most problems.

35. Admissions for student visa holders

36. Troubleshooting You can ignore this letter from the UC App Processing Center

37. Troubleshooting Staff who don’t know What to do when admissions staff don’t know about AB540

38. Troubleshooting: Staff Who Don’t Know Hello, I want t apply Please fill this app form

39. Troubleshooting: Staff Who Don’t Know Are you a citizen? No

40. Troubleshooting: Staff Who Don’t Know Do you have a visa? No

41. Troubleshooting: Staff Who Don’t Know Do you have an I-130? No

42. Troubleshooting: Staff Who Don’t Know What’s your immi. Status? I’m undocumented

43. Troubleshooting: Staff Who Don’t Know Illegal students cannot enroll.

44. Troubleshooting: Staff Who Don’t Know But I am an AB540 student. What is that?

45. Troubleshooting: Staff Who Don’t Know Please give my AB540 form to your residency specialist. Ok.

46. Troubleshooting: Staff Who Don’t Know Hey, she told me that you could enroll!. See? I told you. Thanks

47. Troubleshooting: Staff Who Don’t Know Problem Solved!

48. Troubleshooting “You don’t qualify” What to do when admissions staff think you didn’t overstay your visa

49. Troubleshooting: “You don’t qualify” Hi. Here is my AB540 form. Ok. Can I have your passport?

50. Troubleshooting: “You don’t qualify” Are you really undocumented? I meet the requirements.