Handout or Helping Hand?
College scholarships for undocumented students come under fire as some corporations retract awards.
By Kerri Allen
New York City
Fabiola Cadet’s dream of going to college will finally come true this fall when she starts classes at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. Born in Haiti, Fabiola overstayed the visa she received to visit with her older sister nine years ago, and enrolled in a New York high school. Raising a son and working part-time jobs to cobble together a steady income was challenging, but not as difficult as finding a scholarship for undocumented students.
Fabiola finally happened upon the Brooklyn College Community Partnership Scholarship, which offers awards to students regardless of their immigration status. Those who receive a BCCP scholarship, however, must file an application to become a legal permanent resident. “During these frightening times for immigrants in this country, we found Fabiola’s quiet determination to be quite refreshing” says Jack Shuler, director of development and communications for the BCCP. They granted her $500, which covers more than one-third of her first semester tuition towards an associate degree in applied sciences.
The Brooklyn College scholarship is not the only one of its kind. Across the country, many community groups in cities with large immigrant populations are quietly offering aid packages to undocumented students. Their status means the students cannot qualify for federal grants. But while more groups are joining the push to change those rules, others believe the law is correct the way it is.
“It’s absolutely unfair for children of illegal immigrants to take advantage of educational and social services. They’ve broken the law,” says Susan Wysoki, spokeswoman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform in Washington, D.C.
With college tuition costs soaring and the current heated public debate about immigration policy, it’s not surprising that scholarships accessible to undocumented students are controversial, but recipients like Fabiola say they depend on them. The National Center for Public Policy in Higher Education released a report, “Losing Ground” in 2002, which found that the cost of higher education in the United States is hastily outpacing the cost of living. In 1980, tuition at public four-year colleges and universities represented 13 percent of income for the lowest-income families. Today, tuition at such institutions accounts for 25 percent of those families’ annual income.
Three years ago, U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, introduced the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, which would provide six-year permanent resident status to qualified undocumented high school students who wish to attend college. This would represent a stepping stone towards citizenship and, in many cases, eligibility for in-state tuition rates (see Diverse, May 4).
