College Admissions for Dreamers

My heart sank today when the Senate failed to pass the Dream Act. Like many people, it seems unbelievable that political maneuvering got in the way of this extremely urgent issue.

Because I've worked with undocumented students for a few years now, I can offer some advice to undocumented students who are hoping to go to college.  While it's not easy, it's not impossible.

Tips for Undocumented Students

1) It is not illegal for undocumented students to go to college in the United States. Each individual institution has a policy on how to handle students who are undocumented. Some will not accept them, hands down, while others treat undocumented as foreign students.  There are no federal or state laws about not admitting undocumented students.  Call the admissions offices of the colleges you are interested in and ask them about their policies on undocumented students.  Some colleges even provide scholarships for undocumented students.

2) While undocumented students can't qualify for federal or state financial aid programs, there are several private scholarship foundations that do not take citizenship into consideration when picking award recipients.  The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund has a terrific list of scholarships for students of Latino descent here: http://www.maldef.org/leadership/scholarships/resources/index.html

Many other organizations have private scholarships for different ethnicities and nationalities as well. Do your research.

3) In ten states in the country undocumented students qualify for instate tuition at state schools. In New York, for example, a student needs to only show that they have graduated from a high school in New York state to qualify for in-state tuition at the SUNY and CUNY school.  The ten states are New York, California, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Oklahoma, Illinois, Nebraska, and Kansas

Apply for scholarships, apply for college.  Hopefully today's decision by the Senate will inspire more private donors to create scholarships for undocumented students. If you need more advice, feel free to contact me.