Exemption from nonresident student tuition.

Existing law exempts a student, other than a nonimmigrant alien, as defined, from paying nonresident tuition at the California State University and the California Community Colleges if certain requirements are met. Those requirements include that the person has attended high school in California for 3 or more years, has graduated from a California high school or has attained the equivalent thereof, has registered at or attends an accredited institution of higher education in California not earlier than the fall semester or quarter of the 2001–02 academic year, and, if the person is without lawful immigration status, has filed a certain affidavit. Existing law authorizes a community college district, for apportionment purposes, to report a student who is exempt from nonresident tuition under these provisions as a full-time student. This bill would require a person who otherwise meets the existing eligibility requirements for resident tuition, but who is without lawful immigration status, to pay nonresident tuition until he or she obtains lawful immigration status.