A USC senior says she received just $2,000 in aid while undocumented classmates drew state grants, forcing her father to drain retirement savings.
Ava Schmidt, 21, a political science major from the Bay Area, told the California Post she felt punished for playing by the rules. With USC tuition exceeding $75,000 annually, she works an off-campus job but still struggles to cover rent and groceries. She was denied a work-study slot.
“I felt like I did all the work to earn my spot in this in this school,” she said. “And yet I’m the one that’s not getting aid, and undocumented illegal aliens are instead getting that money.”
Schmidt’s frustration taps into a broader debate over California’s two-decade expansion of benefits for undocumented students. The state hosts roughly 102,000 illegal migrants in its colleges and universities, the largest share nationwide. Assembly Bill 540, signed in 2001, allowed qualifying nonresidents including illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates. The California Dream Act, enacted a decade later, opened state and campus-funded aid through a program initially estimated at $65 million.
Cooper Vincik, 21, a Chapman University senior from San Diego, expects to graduate deeply in debt despite cutting costs by spending two years at Santa Barbara City College before transferring. Tuition at Chapman runs nearly $70,000 yearly.
The aspiring screenwriter said undocumented students at the community college received greater financial assistance access. He described campus orientation around immigration enforcement, including instruction on how to respond if ICE agents appeared.
“It was very ‘illegal first,'” he said.
“We’d have all these different procedures to kind of hide them from ICE, and they’d walk us through this stuff,” Vincik added. “They’d give us little cards telling us where to call if we saw ICE.”
He argued taxpayer money at the publicly funded institution supported efforts countering federal immigration enforcement. “So, it’s really an issue on multiple ends,” he continued.
California’s undocumented students can apply for Cal Grants through the California Dream Act Application, access the California Dream Loan program for subsidized borrowing, and receive the California College Promise Grant waiving community college’s $46-per-unit fee. Some qualify for AB 540 nonresident tuition exemptions at public universities.
The state allocates $2.5 million annually for UC’s Dream Loan program, matched by the university system. Demand has repeatedly fallen short. “Demand for the program has not yet matched the funding available,” a UC report to the state Legislature said.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton has seized on the spending as a campaign issue. “Every day we see a new way Californians are being ripped off by the system, and we’ve had enough of it,” he said. “We pay the highest taxes in the country for the worst results.”
Hilton pledged to cut state-funded aid for illegal migrant students if elected, alongside broader tax reductions including elimination of state income taxes for workers earning under $150,000.
A spokesman for Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed back, saying illegal migrants do not receive more aid merely due to immigration status. “California has improved college affordability and access,” the spokesman said. He noted that a quarter of UC and CSU students, nearly half at nonprofit private institutions, and more than half at for-profit colleges take out loans. In 2022-23, 23% of first-time, full-time California undergraduates held student loans, versus 38% nationally, he added.
Vincik acknowledged personal complexity in his stance, citing a childhood friend whose parents immigrated illegally. “I think we’re such a close nation,” he said. “But the bottom line is, every other country, including Mexico, if we snuck over, they would turn us right back, unless we were contributing something.”
California’s average in-state public tuition sits near the national average, but housing and living costs hit students hard. Middle-class families often fail to qualify for substantial aid while facing total college costs exceeding $45,000 yearly. Room and board alone at public institutions can reach tens of thousands annually.
The California Dream Act’s $65 million launch estimate and subsequent programs have drawn scrutiny as the state faces billions in debt, with native residents and legal immigrants bearing escalating education costs.
Hilton’s campaign continues pressing the issue ahead of next year’s gubernatorial primary.