Please Help Me

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this one.
By Stephanie Reitz, AP
NORWALK, Conn. — A homeless single mother who lives in her van pleaded not guilty Wednesday to stealing nearly $16,000 worth of education for her son by enrolling the kindergartener in her baby sitter's school district.

Tanya McDowell, 33, was arraigned in Norwalk, where she was arrested April 14 on felony charges of committing and attempting to commit first-degree larceny.

Prosecutors say McDowell used her baby sitter's address to enroll her son in Norwalk schools in the fall but should have registered the boy in nearby Bridgeport, a significantly poorer urban district and the location of her last permanent address.
She faces up to 20 years in prison and up to $15,000 in fines if convicted of the felony larceny charge.
Bridgeport's heavily urban school district is about twice the size of Norwalk's, though both sit within Connecticut's wealthy Fairfield County. Bridgeport is significantly poorer: State figures show 95 percent of Bridgeport's students qualify for free or reduced-lunch meals because of their family incomes, compared with less than one of every three Norwalk students. Norwalk also has significantly lower dropout rates and higher test scores.

So let me get this right.  If you're an illegal you can steal an education for your child and have people rally around you child's cause and demand that you should also be entitled to in state college tuition, but if you're an American citizen that is homeless and living in various locations you are charged with a felony.