[notsony]

Take a step back and put this identity politics madness into context. Basically you get penalized for working hard and following the rules. Imagine you're a working-class White or Asian family, not eligible for state aid, and your child is trying their best to get into college. How would you feel if you also found out:

> "Apply only for California state aid through the California Dream Act of 2011. Several state financial aid programs and many private scholarships are open to AB 540 students. Other undocumented students are encouraged to apply as there are often campus based aid and private scholarships available to them.

There are two types of grants available as Cal Grants: the entitlement grants and the competitive grants... Under entitlement grants, eligible student are guaranteed a Cal Grant A if they have at least a 3.0 grade point average... Cal Grant A and B Competitive Awards are available for students who do not qualify for the entitlement grants. The competitive grants are not guaranteed. Each year 22,500 competitive grants are awarded. "

[1] LATimes comment via http://web.csulb.edu/president/government-community/ab540/pd...

[MollyR]

Yes, I'm hearing a lot of this kind of chatter in the asian american community. In the Korean and Chinese communities(where I live anyways), a lot of people are paying very very close attention to this. A lot of anger is rising, and it crosses age groups in their community. At my old college(ivy league, so big school), there was a large undercurrent of racial tension. A lot of students, even 2nd generations asian americans, mostly hung out with groups drawn along racial lines. I honestly fear these attempts to curb racism/discrimination are increasing it significantly.

[kaitai]

I don't understand this comment: why would a working-class white or Asian-American family not be eligible for state aid? I assume it would be because their income is too high or the kid's GPA is too low. Wouldn't those same regulations apply to the Dream Act kids too? If you're rich and undocumented you still don't get aid, and if you're undocumented with a crappy GPA you don't get anything either.

So do you feel that poor US citizens are actually getting a worse deal? How?

(I can see the argument that people who go back to, say, Mexico, and wait for a legal family visa to come to the US, are getting a raw deal. That's certainly true: as of January 2015 the US govt has finally gotten around to dealing with people who submitted their paperwork in 1994. http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/law-and-policy... )