California assemblywoman slams proposal to expand tuition program for illegal immigrant students
Assemblywoman Kate Sanchez recently criticized proposed legislation expanding the California DREAM Loan Program for illegal immigrant students, claiming that the move would unfairly burden taxpayers.
On Monday, Sanchez took to X to share a 'BAD BILL ALERT.'
California Assemblywoman Kate Sanchez recently criticized proposed legislation expanding the California DREAM Loan Program for illegal immigrant students, claiming that the move would unfairly burden taxpayers.
Assembly Bill 681, authored by Assemblywoman Sade Elhawary, proposes raising the annual borrowing limit for “undocumented” graduate students enrolled at the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) campuses from $20,000 to $20,500.
The bill would substantially increase the aggregate borrowing limit to $118,500 for graduate students. Undergraduates would remain capped at borrowing $4,000 per academic year and $20,000 in total, leading to an overall combined maximum borrowing limit of $138,500 for those utilizing the program for both undergraduate and graduate education.
On Monday, Sanchez took to X to share a “BAD BILL ALERT.”
“CA Dems are pushing a bill to give ONLY illegal immigrants $138,500 in loans to attend a UC,” she wrote. “While they can use taxpayer funds for ‘Folklore’ and ‘Gender & Sexuality Studies’ degrees, California students studying math & science will have no access to them.”
BAD BILL ALERT: CA Dems are pushing a bill to give ONLY illegal immigrants $138,500 in loans to attend a UC. While they can use taxpayer funds for “Folklore” and “Gender & Sexuality Studies” degrees, California students studying math & science will have no access to them. pic.twitter.com/SWgQy5U4kC
— Kate Sanchez (@KateSanchezCA) March 17, 2025
In an interview with Campus Reform, Edward Ring, a senior fellow at the California Policy Center, echoed Sanchez’s concerns, directly challenging transparency and rising university costs that he attributed primarily to administrative bloat rather than educational value.
“I would be very cynical about the current level of transparency [from the California state government] for the DREAM program,” Ring stated.
“Why the hell do our public universities cost this much to begin with?” he continued. “Why don’t they get the administrator to classroom instructor ratio back down to earth?”
Ring attributed the skyrocketing cost of California tuition costs to the state’s faculty and employee unions, which have created a larger bureaucracy over the years for services like those aimed at “protecting diversity.”
[RELATED: UC Riverside tuition-funded LGBTQ center offers free ‘gender identity’ camp]
“What they were really doing was creating jobs for bureaucrats and these jobs pay more than faculty positions,” he added.
“So if you would restore meritocracy to college admissions, so you wouldn’t have students that need special help, you would get a better, more qualified student body and you could fire 90 percent of these administrators and you could cut the cost of tuition in half or even to one third of what it is today,” he continued.
Campus Reform has reached out to Assemblywoman Sanchez and the UC Office of the President for comment. The article will be updated accordingly.
