SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — Attendance at Southwestern Community College in Chula Vista, California, is up by 20% this semester compared to a year ago, according to school President Mark Sanchez.
He says about 1,500 of the students are from south of the border, with 80 or so taking part in the recently instituted AB-91 program.
It allows students from Mexico who live within 45 miles south of the border to attend community colleges in San Diego and Imperial counties while paying in-state California tuition.
Last year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 91 into law clearing the way for the program to begin this fall.
Students who qualify for the program would pay $46 per unit instead of the $6,000 they would normally pay per year in international student fees.
“It’s been more accessible and more adaptable to my income; it’s been life-changing,” said Melany Garcia, who is from Tijuana and one of the program’s participants.
Garcia, 21, says she has attended college in Tijuana but “without much success.”
Being allowed to study north of the border while paying California in-state tuition is a golden opportunity, according to her.
“I’ve never been this excited in my life and right now, I’m getting to work toward my goals and my aspirations for the future,” she said.
Garcia says she wants to study industrial design.
She hopes to attend San Francisco State University after graduating from Southwestern Community College.
“Being here in the United States is opening more doors than studying in Mexico,” she said.
Sanchez says it’s important to provide educational opportunities to students like Garcia, something that will make the San Diego-Tijuana region much stronger and productive in the future.
“Our community values education, and as an educational institution we simply need to remove the barriers for our students by removing the cost to attend college, and that’s what we’ve done,” he said. “It allows us to ensure that we can educate and prepare the broadest talent pool for those job opportunities now and into the future.”
Sanchez said another benefit of AB-91 is that it allows students, many of whom are U.S. citizens and young people who’ve been forced to move to Tijuana because their families can’t afford to live in California, attend school north of the border.
“The average cost for a one-bedroom apartment in south San Diego County is about $2,800, where conversely in Tijuana, they can get a one bedroom for approximately $700 to $800 per month,” Sanchez said. “This assembly bill essentially removes the barrier of cost to pursue higher education.”