With the immigration reform issue stalled in Congress, a small but growing number of public and private colleges are rolling out welcome mats for students who were brought to the United States illegally as children, or under temporary deportation reprieves. Schools in New York, California, Illinois and other states with large immigrant populations are now offering in-house financial aid, scholarships solicited from private benefactors, advocacy training, law clinics and on-campus offices to provide targeted support for such students. Starting Thursday, University of California President Janet Napolitano will host a two-day national conference on how colleges and universities can better serve illegal immigrants. After assuming the post of President, Napolitano (a former Homeland Security secretary) made a generous $5 million donation to support U.C.’s unauthorized immigrant students, estimated at about 2,000 this year. St. Peter’s University in New Jersey made an announcement that they are planning on creating a center like the one at U.C. Davis. Funds have been directed to the financial aid office to subsidize the Davis student center and related offices at six other campuses. Two lawmakers have suggested expanding to the rest of the state’s public universities and 112 community colleges. Starting Fall 2015, Emory University in Atlanta, New York University and Tufts University outside Boston plan to start allowing immigrant students to compete with U.S. citizens for need-based financial aid.
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