During the time Ju Hong grew up in the United States (2000-2010), undocumented students in California had to deal with many financial constraints that made it more difficult for them to attend college. Firstly, it should be noted that no federal law prevents undocumented students from attending public colleges or universities. Plyler v. Doe (1982) ruled that it was impossible for any state to “deny school-aged undocumented aliens the right to a free education” [2]. No federal law has overruled this case. Still, some states, such as California, have dealt with many cases and laws that deal with how much money undocumented students will have to pay to attend school. California attempted to completely bar undocumented students from attending its public colleges and universities but this attempt was struck down in the late 1990s.[2]
The next issue was whether undocumented students should receive resident tuition benefits at public colleges or universities. The history of this in California is interesting and can be further viewed at the article link below. However, there is a big difference in what residents pay compared to non-residents: “Residents pay approximately $1000 per semester for all their fees, when enrolled as full-time students. Non-residents pay this same basic fee, but, in addition, pay $246 per unit of coursework” [2].
As of 1996 - the California State University system (CSU) started charging undocumented students non-resident fees and this was likely in effect when Ju Hong was dealing with college admissions. Furthermore, Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 states that “only U.S. citizens and eligible non-citizens can receive federal student financial aid. F and J students and scholars, for example, cannot receive federal student financial aid. Neither can undocumented students”. Ju Hong was certainly not an “eligible non-citizen”.[2] As such, one can imagine the financial situation his family must have been in. They already escaped from Korea after they were unable to pay their debts, and are dealing with similar struggles in the United States.
Ju Hong’s article states that this was a big reason, “But then we found out how expensive it would be for me to enroll, and we learned that I couldn’t get any financial aid because of my immigration status. My mom said I shouldn’t worry about the financial problems and said she’d take care of it. But we were already struggling to pay our rent, and it just wasn’t possible. And so I decided not to go. And then I started to learn more about what it meant to be undocumented in the U.S., and that’s when everything hit me.”[9] Read More