1.
The new law does not grant residency, it requires that certain
nonresident students be exempted from paying nonresident tuition.
2.
Students exempted from paying nonresident tuition pursuant to
section 68130.5 do not become residents for eligibility
purposes for any state-funded program (e.g., 8EON&S, Cal Grant
programs, or for purposes of a BOG Fee Waiver).
3.
AB 540
Students who meet the exemption requirements
are not eligible for any federal or state
financial aid program. Many private sources have created
scholarships specific to students not eligible for traditional
financial aid programs. (scholarship link)
4.
Students exempted from paying nonresident tuition pursuant to
section 68130.5 are not eligible for the Governor’s Merit Scholar
Programs because these scholarships are only available for
California
residents.
5.
Students must meet all requirements in section 68130.5 (a)
(1) – (4) to be eligible for the exemption.
a.
The student must have attended a California high school for three
or more years. There are no provisions for partial attendance
(e.g. two years and 7 months). The law does not require
consecutive attendance nor require that the student attended the
last three years in California (in the case of four-year
high schools).
b.
Such attendance could be at multiple California high schools.
Attendance at continuation high schools, charter high schools and
K-12 approved independent education is acceptable.
Attendance at a home school is not acceptable unless the home
schooling was provided in a manner recognized under state law. The
law does not distinguish between public and private high schools.
There is no time limit on how far in the past the student might
have attended a
California
high school.
c.
The student must have graduated from a California high school or
attained the equivalent thereof (e.g., a GED or a high school
proficiency exam).
d.
Except for nonimmigrant aliens, any nonresident student
who meets the first two requirements shall be exempted from
nonresident tuition even if he or she is a
US citizen or lawful immigrant.
e.
If the student has filed an application with the INS to legalize
status, the student may already be eligible for resident fee
status if the student has resided in
California
for more than one year since the time of INS application. (See
Title 5 Section 54045.)
6.
Students who are nonimmigrant aliens (the most common being the F
series student visas and B series visitor visas), are not eligible
for this exemption. (A full description of nonimmigrant alien
classification may be found in paragraph 15 of subsection (a) of
Section 1101 of Title 8 of the U.S. Code.) People who entered the
country as nonimmigrant aliens but subsequently have gone out of
status are not eligible for this exemption until they apply to INS
to change their status to something other than nonimmigrant.
Review the:
AB540 College Access Network
Guide
for more information
Financial
Aid
Resources:
Students who are not citizens or
legal residents of the United States
may be
eligible for state financial aid through the California Dream
Act. To learn more about the California Dream Act, click on the
navigation bar link. To learn more about
scholarships, please access the RHC scholarship site and the information
developed by
the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
(MALDEF).
(This information is provided as a courtesy
to our students; Rio Hondo College is not responsible for the
content or accuracy of the information)
International Students Scholarship & Aid
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