If you are an illegal immigrant, federal and state laws cannot bar you from attending a private college or university as long as you complete the application process and are accepted into the school. In fact, some schools even encourage illegal immigrants to attend. Hampshire College in Massachusetts is even offering new scholarship program which targets illegal immigrants.
The small liberal arts college says that they will give an endowment and scholarship to finance one illegal immigrant’s education every four years. The student who is granted this gift will be able to attend college on an almost full ride, with $25,000 covered every year. A college spokeswoman named Elaine Thomas declined to identify this year’s recipient, saying that it was against federal privacy rules to provide that information.
According to Fox News, about 65,000 illegal immigrants graduate from an American high school every single year. Only five to ten percent of those graduates apply for college. This is in part because the many immigrants can’t afford the costs of college tuition. Each state has its’ own opinion and therefore their own rules on illegal immigration and college attendance.
The LA Times says that Maryland allows immigrants to pay in-state rates at public colleges. In Virginia, which is right next door, all illegal immigrants are required to pay an out-of-state fee to attend college there. In fact, last year Virginia tried to pass legislation that would have made it illegal for immigrants in Virginia to attend a college in the state. The proposal did not pass the Senate, and was never enacted.
With as many as 11 million immigrants living in the United States, there is a call to learn more about immigrants and college. A new deferred action program was recently enacted by the Obama administration which makes certain immigrants eligible for a two-year reprieve in the United States. Part of the requirements for the deferred action program are that immigrants are under the age of 30 and entered the US before the age of 16. They also must have a high school degree, or be enrolled in the military or college. While Obama’s new policy encourages higher education for illegal immigrants, some state governments disagree.
South Carolina has a similar attitude as Virginia does. The government does not allow students to attend public universities. In Alabama, illegal immigrants are not permitted to attend community colleges. In some states, individual schools have the right to choose whether or not they will accept illegal immigrants to study there. Other states simply tack on out-of-state rates to discourage illegal immigrants from even applying to universities in the area.
In California, Georgia, and Arizona, the out-of-state rates are extremely high. Georgia even makes college attendance more difficult by prohibiting any undocumented students from the school if they have rejected academically qualified applicants for the last two years because of enrollment limits. At present, the federal government holds a jurisdiction which demands that the United States provide illegal immigrants with a K-12 education in the public school system. Yet colleges, specifically public colleges, often run by their state rules or their own policies.
The confusing mix of rules can make it difficult for an aspiring student to find a willing college. If you are an immigrant who is currently searching for a college or university that will accept you despite documentation, then you may want to hire an immigration lawyer. This is especially true if you believe that the school or university is being discriminatory or not operating according to the state laws or federal statutes. Talk to an immigration lawyer in your area right now to discuss your case.