Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients could have all four years of their tuition paid at the University of Memphis through a scholarship provided by the university and Equal Chance for Education, a non-profit organization specializing in providing funding for undocumented students seeking a higher education.
This scholarship will provide over $1 million for 152 DACA students to attend college in Tennessee this year. The program currently has five graduates, some of whom are moving on to careers in medical and finance fields.
Molly Haynes, the executive director of Equal Chance for Education, said the cost of higher education for an undocumented student can be three times as much as a student who would pay in-state tuition because Tennessee does not have tuition equity, which allows undocumented students to pay in-state tuition.
The U of M’s Student Government Association tweeted information about the scholarship Saturday. Drew Gilmore, SGA president, thinks DACA students have the right to receive financial help.
“It’s important for these students to go to college and get help throughout college,” Gilmore said, “They have equal rights jut like any other student.”
There are 7,900 current DACA recipients in Tennessee, out of the 689,000 recipients nationwide, according to data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
There are 24 states that allow unauthorized students to pay in-state tuition on certain conditions, but Tennessee is not one of them. In the past, this has hurt some students in Memphis who did not have access to scholarships.
Uriel Rodriguez, a freshman engineering technology major, was one of the 20 undocumented students accepted for the scholarship who started class at the University of Memphis last fall. Rodriguez said he would have been lost without the Equal Chance for Education scholarship.
“Without this scholarship, I honestly don’t know what I would be doing right now,” Rodriguez said. “Being classified as an out-of-state student because I wasn’t born here would make my tuition rise from $8,000 to $24,000 a semester.”
Isaias Ramos graduated from Kingsbury High School in 2013 with a high grade point average, but due to his legal status, he did not have many colleges with reasonable tuition rates to choose. The financial burden eventually led him to stay at home to work at his family’s painting business. His family thought the then-new DACA program would allow him to pay in-state tuition, but they were wrong.
Ramos’ story was followed for a couple of years by Daniel Connolly, a reporter for The Commercial Appeal. His book, "The Book of Isaias: A Child of Hispanic Immigrants Seeks His Own America," allowed him to share one story that many undocumented students have experienced.
“I believe it’s in everyone’s interest as a society to help young people develop,” Connolly said. “It’s wasteful to take someone who has gone through a school system and block them from further education and participating in our society.”
Connolly encourages DACA students, if given the opportunity, to go as far in education as they can, so society will see how much of a benefit they are with a higher education.
Haynes urges qualifying students to apply for the scholarship by visiting the scholarship page on the U of M website. The deadline to sign up is March 1.
