San Francisco Chronicle

"Governor," I asked Gray Davis at The Chronicle's editorial board meeting last week, "I've heard from readers who are very angry about the (University of California) Board of Regents' vote to let undocumented students pay in-state tuition and the passage of AB540. They wonder what citizenship means if you give a break to people who are here illegally. Could you answer that?"

Davis gave as good of an answer as one could, which entailed skipping the citizenship issue entirely.

"I signed AB540," Davis said, "because I believe someone who spends three years in high school and on their own merit gains admission to a California college should not be denied the opportunity to complete their education because their parents many years ago may have decided to enter the country illegally."

It's a good answer. Davis also made a good point when, in answer to a different question, he noted that illegal immigrants benefit the California economy. "The cost of food in the supermarket, at a restaurant or in a hotel are all being subsidized by people who do the work that Americans will not do, " he said.

Davis has a point. It doesn't seem fair to tell good kids who do well enough to get into UC -- under the new rules, to qualify for lower tuition, an illegal immigrant must have attended a California high school for three years - - that they must pay the hefty tuition of $11,132 charged out-of-state residents, as opposed to the $4,229 charged to California residents.