Financial Aid for ‘Dreamers’ Becomes a Reality in Connecticut

The Connecticut House of Representatives gave final passage Wednesday night to legislation that opens financial aid in the state to “dreamers,” the undocumented immigrants brought here as children, only to find themselves priced out of higher education as they come of age.

The legislation, passed on a 91-59 vote, makes undocumented immigrants eligible to apply for help from the $150 million pool of financial aid awarded annually to students at the state’s public colleges and universities. College-age immigrants and other supporters of the bill exploded into cheers from a House gallery decked in red, white and blue bunting.

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With the governor’s promised signature of the bill into law, Connecticut’s public colleges will join seven other states in opening access to financial aid for some undocumented students.

Presently, California, Hawaii, Minnesota, New Mexico, Texas and Washington offer undocumented students tuition support, reports the Education Commission of the States, a non-partisan think tank that tracks education policies. New Jersey is also slated to soon begin providing aid to these students.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy applauded passage of the bill, calling dreamers “part of the fabric of this state.”

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{snip} Rep. Gregg Haddad, D-Mansfield, co-chair of the Higher Education Committee:“The workforce pipeline must be strengthened.… We are unlikely to meet [businesses workforce] needs without including all of our residents.”

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Rep. Daniel Rovero of Killingly was the only House Democrat to vote no.

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Not all undocumented residents will be eligible for the aid. To qualify someone must have moved to the U.S. before they turned 17 years old, attended a Connecticut high school for at least two years and be under age 36 by June 15. State residents who are undocumented and have served in the military and are honorably discharged also will be eligible for aid. Those with a felony are not eligible.

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With the passage of this bill, federal Pell grants and state-taxpayer aid provided through the Roberta Willis Scholarship will still be unavailable to these students. The only pool of funding this opens access to is the money the state’s public colleges set aside from tuition dollars students pay to provide need- and merit-based financial aid.

Opponents of the legislation said they foresee crowding some legal residents out of the financial aid pool if undocumented students are given access. Concerns also were raised about the timing of expanding financial aid when state funding is being cut for public colleges and universities.

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A series of changes have been made over the last seven years to help lower college costs for undocumented students. {snip}

In 2015, the law was changed to lower the requirement to two years of high school. Just under 100 students benefit from these lower tuition rates at the University of Connecticut, and it is unclear how many benefit at the state’s community colleges and four Connecticut State Universities. Connecticut is one of 16 states to offer in state tuition rates to undocumented students.

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