SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Not every community college student in San Diego County lives in San Diego County.
“I actually have some classmates that do commute every single day across the border,” said San Diego City College student Angie Mendoza. “And some of those students are doing 12 units or more. And just them having to work and then stay here all day long and sometimes even go back because they forgot a book or two, and then try to commute, makes it very difficult for them.”
Aside from the trials with travel and outside obstacles, there’s some relief for some Mexican students on the horizon in the form of state Assembly Bill 91 being signed into law by Gov. Newsom last Friday.
The bill introduced by local Assemblymember David Alvarez creates a five-year pilot program in which low-income Mexican residents who live within 45 miles of the border pay in-state tuition at certain community colleges in California.
RELATED: California will give Mexican residents near border in-state tuition
“Giving students access to California resident cost of tuition is a huge, huge thing. When you look at the comparison between a resident and a non-resident, non-residents are paying almost eight times to what a California resident pays,” said Luke Menchaca, the Dean of Student Affairs & Outreach for the San Diego Community College District.
Menchaca told ABC 10News these students may not be able to have the same financial support in-state students have.
“And working in outreach, I especially see it when you’re in the communities. ‘Well, I don’t think I can go to school there because I’m not a California resident. I live across the border,’” Menchaca said. “So, they don’t have to stress about coming up with thousands and thousands of dollars in order to just go to school to better themselves, to be a more marketable professional.”
In a statement from Alvarez’s office, the law can address the need for more skilled workers and helps develop a more diverse workforce and economy.
“The community college is unique in that way. We have these vocational and career certificates; some as little as a year, two years, three years,” Menchaca said.
Some current students see that being as a possibility.
“Any of those vocationals, they’ll simply get them in quicker into the industry once they’re there. Obviously since COVID, unfortunately happened, we’ve been on a shortage of every single employer. So, it would kind of give San Diego to go back on the rise,” Mendoza said.
The bill goes into effect at the start of 2024.
