October 9, 2006
Judge rejects challenge of tuition breaks for undocumented students By BECKY BARTINDALE San Jose Mercury News SAN JOSE, Calif. - A Yolo County judge has rejected a legal challenge to a California law allowing the state's public colleges and universities to extend resident tuition to students who are in the United States illegally. In a mailed decision that arrived Monday, Superior Court Judge Thomas E. Warriner concluded that the lawsuit's claims lacked legal merit. The suit was brought on behalf of out-of-state students who are U.S. citizens. It claimed that giving undocumented immigrants an in-state tuition break at California community colleges, California State University and University of California campuses discriminated again legal U.S. residents who are charged a higher tuition. "The state law challenged in this lawsuit gave undocumented students who have excelled in our high schools the opportunity to get an affordable college education," Ethan Schulman of the Howard Rice law firm, which represented the University of California, said in a statement. "The court's ruling rejects every one of plaintiffs' claims and finds that there is no violation of federal law or the constitution." Attorney O. Antony Abdollahi, one of the lawyers representing the out-of-state students, said he hadn't seen the judge's ruling yet, but said it was likely it would be appealed. "I feel comfortable saying this is not over," Abdollahi said. At least nine other states have enacted laws similar to California's, which gives in-state tuition rates to students who graduate from California high schools after attending for at least three years. © 2006, San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.).