Introduced by District 80 Assemblymember David Alvarez, Assembly Bill 91 is before the governor this week. This bill will exempt the non-resident tuition fee for low-income students who are a resident of Mexico, registers for lower division courses at Southwestern, Cuyamaca, Grossmont, Imperial Valley, MiraCosta, Palomar, San Diego City, San Diego Mesa, San Diego Miramar, or colleges, and has residence within 45 miles of the California-Mexico border, to amend, repeal, and add Section 761440 of the Education Code relating to community colleges.
The bill would require the governing boards of the community colleges that choose to use this exemption to adopt one uniform policy to determine a student’s residence classification, establish procedures for an appeal and review of the residence classification, and determine whether a student is low income. The bill also would require the governing boards of the community colleges that choose to use this exemption, as a condition of its students receiving the exemption described above, to collaborate with each other to ensure the adoption of the uniform policy.
Alvarez said this bill is essentially the reality of life in our border region.
“We have over 140,000 people who cross the border every single day,” he said.
“About 70% cross the border for work, but about 7,000 of those border crossers every day are students. This bill recognized the uniqueness of our region, and the population of the people in this region.”
Alvarez said to provide opportunities for this group of students, who first, must be income qualified, but secondly, they are a part of the region’s future workforce population.
“More and more in San Diego we are realizing how we are integrated as a border region through our economy, our culture, environmental issues, cross-border issues,” he said. “So are students. This bill recognizes that and attempts to make students the future success of our region. As a region we need to fill many jobs, and our community colleges in general are declining in their enrollment of students. The population of California is shifting, so this bill recognizes that we are at an intersection and if we can successfully integrate our region, it makes us more competitive.”
Alvarez said, putting it simply, students that qualify can attend community colleges in the region without paying out-of-state tuition fees.
“It is a pilot program for five years and it is only for the community colleges that are in the border region,” he said. “It is tailored in a way that speaks to the dynamics of our region. It is not like any students from Mexico can come to our community colleges. Our goal is to navigate it and show that the project, the program is successful and that the students are succeeding and contributing to our regional economy, making the investment worth it.”
Southwestern College chief of staff to the superintendent/president Zaneta Encarnacion said SWC has been a sponsor of this bill, working with Alvarez since its beginning, as well as the San Diego-Imperial County Community College Association, which is all the San Diego regional community colleges. She said if the governor signs the bill, all the community colleges will work together to create structures and policy around the program to determine the definition of low-income for students residing in Tijuana. Set up a reporting system to track students coming in under the AB 91 program.
“That would mean students coming in that reside within the 45 miles of the California-Mexico border,” she said. “Then we would need to create a report at the end of the program that included how many students participated, their success rates status, and that would go to the legislature through the chancellor’s office.”
Encarnacion said besides increasing enrollment, this program is more about benefiting students in the community.
“What we have found is that the costs of living in San Diego County is the biggest reason why folks move to Tijuana or another town close to the border because it is less expensive,” she said. “They are moving to more affordable living, but by doing so, because they are non-residents, they pay a much higher tuition. For us, 10 miles south of us is the border, so they are paying an enormous amount more than students that might be living 15 miles north of us just because of the proximity of where they live.”
Encarnacion said the college believes this will increase success for students, give them the and give them opportunity to stay in school.
“We have students who live over there and have to drop out because they cannot afford it,” she said. “So, you have a pre-engineering student who is now washing dishes downtown because they cannot afford to continue pursuing their education. And those are not just stories that are heartbreaking, but they are also affecting our economy as a region when we are in such a need of skilled workers, solely based on living south of the border. And this border region is so interdependent.”
Encarnacion said the program is a residency requirement, not a citizen requirement.
“California is usually the leader. We do not hear often that Texas got it right, but the truth is that we are behind in this area, losing out on a talented pipeline that other states have already realized. We hope people will let the governor know how important this is to our community,” she said. “We are being cautiously optimistic that he will sign it.”
Alvarez said there is a program in Texas already implemented.
“To be clear, California is not leading this initiative,” he said. “We would be the last of the border states to be on Mexico border doing this. Texas has been doing this for a decade. They have graduated well over 70,000 students in their university system, so we are not even talking about community colleges.”
Alvarez said for him, success would be students completing their higher educational goals and that the investment is worth it so we can look to expand this into our university system.
Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District Chancellor Lynn Neault said AB 91 removes the financial barriers for up to 150 low-income Mexican students living within 45 miles from California to attend one of the 10 community colleges near the border.
“The bill also provides California students access to universities in Mexico through a reciprocity agreement between the California community college system and the institutions of higher education in Mexico,” she said. “It is important for California to leverage its unique location to develop bi-national partnerships with Mexico and produce a skilled cross-border workforce. By allowing Mexican residents to attend community colleges in San Diego County without having to pay out-of-state tuition fees, we are bolstering the economic health of the region and preparing students for the jobs of tomorrow.”
Neault said a 2022 study by the University of San Diego identified the California-Baja region as the largest integrated economic zone along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“This legislation is needed to expand access to degree programs in San Diego County that provide a skilled workforce for current and emerging industries in the region,” she said.
