As the DREAM Act languishes on Capitol Hill, undocumented students are finding there’s more competition for limited resources. “We [at ULI] try to direct students to as many resources as we can,” Garibay says. “But there’s only a certain amount of things they can apply to. The majority of the scholarships require citizenship or residency. It just makes it really hard.”
It’s not that universities don’t care or want to help, advocates say, but financial aid offices are often limited given laws and guidelines.
Arizona State University provided private scholarships to nearly 200 undocumented students after Arizona passed legislation in 2007 that made them ineligible for in-state tuition. However, the aid, estimated at $1.8 million, was a one-time award.
