A new bill will qualify immigrant students for California grants and community college fee waivers.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed the second half of the California Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, AB 131, into effect on Oct. 8.

Brown’s budget cuts to education this past summer were harsh and heavy handed, raising tuition across UCs, CSUs and community colleges alike, forcing some colleges to cut classes and programs.

Yet amid this constant budget crisis, we’re going to hold the hands of people who aren’t legally supposed to be here.

When illegal immigrants are involved Brown suddenly seemed to care about making sure students can afford the rising costs to attend college.

The cost of the bill is estimated at slightly more than $13 million, according to the California Student Aid Commission.

However, this doesn’t account for the influx of undocumented student community college fee waivers which will have to be paid for by the taxpayers and could cause yet another rise in our tuition.

It’s not a huge chunk of the $1.4 billion grant program, but it’s still money that the state does not have lying around.

State parks and veteran programs are just a few areas where $13 million could make a huge difference.

Proponents of the bill, such as Assemblyman Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), who wrote the bill, argue that these students have already been given significant amounts of the state’s resources through elementary and high school which would be lost if taxpayers do not support them through their higher education.

Also, by giving them financial aid assistance the hope is that they can raise the state’s poverty level and decrease the amount of people on welfare by getting higher paying jobs.

The problem with that is it is illegal to employ undocumented workers.

The bill does not include any provisions for providing a pathway to citizenship.

So what will they do with their degree if they can’t get employment?

Undocumented students are required to show that they are making some sort of effort to get started on the citizenship process, but if that was such an easy thing they wouldn’t have cut in line in front of the rest of the world’s immigrants in the first place.

While it’s not right to punish these students for their parents coming here illegally, we shouldn’t reward them with financial assistance either.

It’s already hard enough for students to get into classes before you start trucking in illegals and paying for their educations.