DREAM Act is total nightmare for citizens

College students are expected to find their own ways to pay such expenses as housing, tuition, books, a new computer and furniture for the new dorm room, and the list goes on and on.

With a limited chance at getting a major scholarship and the ever decreasing amount of money the federal government supplies to students through grants and loans, at the end of the day, your bank account is left hurting.

Now, thanks to the recently passed DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) in California, illegal immigrants are also added as potential recipients to state-funded financial aid and private scholarships.

Is it just me, or is something not right here?

According to the California Student Aid Commission website, 22,569 students received a Cal Grant A and 49,695 students received a Cal Grant B in 2008-2009. Now these same students, in an already highly competitive environment, are going to have to fight with non-American citizens for these federal grants in order to afford attending college.

The California Department of Finance, as reported in an Associated Press article for Fox News online, estimates a total of 2,500, only 1 percent, of accepted university students would now be qualified for aid in California, the costs of which total $14.5 million.

But that's almost 3,000 U.S. born citizens who could be denied aid in California in order to allow illegal immigrants a chance at an education.

As a struggling college student myself, effectively living paycheck-to-paycheck as I make payments to UCF over and over again, I find myself disappointed in California Gov. Jerry Brown and his decision to pass this bill.

Illegal immigrants are just that — illegal. Why should they be guaranteed rights to federal money, as well as in-state tuition for college universities, when I, as a natural-born citizen, can barely afford tuition each semester? The government seems to now be advocating illegal immigration — you jump the border to our country, we'll pay for your college experience.

Back in November 2010, a polling by FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform) showed a 54 percent negative response to the, at the time, proposed DREAM Act. Assemblyman Tim Donnelly said in the Fox News online article that the negative response rate is now 80-90 percent of Californians in this month alone.

So, not only is Brown advocating a bill that supports illegal immigration, he's doing it against the majority of Californian popular opinion.

I understand. Illegal immigrants come to America for a chance at a better life. America is a growing power, a technological nation with so many government reforms that make education a key priority in this country.

However, I don't feel that is a valid excuse to enter the country illegally. Go through the legal process of immigration, earn the rights as an American citizen, become educated and have that better life that they most certainly deserve.

I support the 80 percent of Californians against this bill passage. Grant federal aid money to the college students who have gone through the process of legally attending a university. Give privately-funded scholarships and loans to the American citizens who show the most need.

Don't reward students for illegally entering this country with grants and loans they can now qualify for. Don't advocate jumping the border with enticing prospects of a free education. And most certainly don't ignore popular opinion in order to grant "rights" in education to those who have illegally established themselves in this country.

The DREAM Act should have stayed nothing more than a reverie.