California Community Colleges Access and Continuity for Deported Students Act.

Assembly Member Fong, with principal coauthor Assembly Member Mark González and coauthor Assembly Member Solache, advances a temporary, targeted policy to exempt a defined class of deported California community college students from nonresident tuition when they reenroll in online education programs within three years of leaving the United States. The measure creates a new article in the Education Code, defines the eligible group and the online pathways, and takes immediate effect as an urgency statute with a sunset on January 1, 2030, requiring a two-thirds vote for enactment and establishing a framework for potential state-mandated local costs.

The bill defines a “deported student” as a student who departed the United States on or after January 1, 2025 while enrolled at a California community college, for reasons tied to immigration enforcement actions or related circumstances, and it defines an “online education program” as a distance education program offered by a California community college that permits remote completion of coursework. Eligibility for the nonresident tuition exemption hinges on three conditions: the student was not paying nonresident tuition at departure and the college verifies this status; the student provides an attestation detailing the residence status, departure date, departure reason, and prior college; and the student reenrolls in an online program within three years of departure. The exemption lasts for the duration of enrollment in the online program and continues until the student completes a listed credential or transfer pathway, with a provision that, upon resuming in-person study, the student may retain residency status or remain exempt and be eligible to apply for financial aid.

Implementation and fiscal considerations pivot on college duties and the broader statutory framework: colleges must verify the departure status, collect the specified attestation, and ensure reenrollment within the time window; the article remains in effect only through January 1, 2030, after which it is repealed, and the measure draws into play the state-mandated costs provisions if applicable. The bill does not earmark new state funding, but it contemplates potential local costs for districts and possible reimbursement through the state-mandated local costs framework, subject to the usual Government Code procedures. It interacts with existing online education authorities by including programs that fall under current online offerings and tuition rules, while tying residency and financial aid considerations to the deported-student status at departure.

The bill’s findings describe a rationale grounded in continuity of education for students facing deportation risk, highlighting online education as a viable route to maintain progress and align with goals of accessibility, equity, and economic mobility. In policy terms, the measure creates a temporary carve-out within the California Community Colleges framework to preserve educational continuity for deported students, recognizing the potential for later return to the United States and the possibility of ongoing engagement with California institutions. The urgency and sunset design situate the proposal within a discrete, time-limited policy window, with implementation contingent on college administration, eligibility attestations, and the state’s mandate-reimbursement processes, rather than an ongoing funding allocation.