<p>Hi,
You may remember me from years past. I am the parent of two hispancic kids who benefitted from CC information in applying to colleges and looking for financial support. </p>
<p>I am trying to take all that hard earned knowledge and am mentoring a local high school student who wants to go to college. She will be first to college, very low income, and has applied for amnesty(?) under the dream act. This has allowed her to work legally part time. She now works 20-30 hrs a week to help support her family and has no savings. She babysits her younger siblings including one who is severely handicapped. She is in 10th grade. Last year she had mediocre grades but since getting word of the Dream Act acceptance she is motivated to try for college. Her Sophomore grades are mainly As and a couple of Bs. Her counselors and teachers are enthusiastic supporters but she will not qualify for instate tuition or state or federal aid. She is a hardworker and good student, but not Ivy League so the schools with really deep pockets are not within her reach. What type of financial resources are available for these kids? Are any schools willing to give extra aid to make up for ineligibility for Pell grants, loans etc?</p>
<p>Hi Samantha, great to hear from you again! </p>
<p>I’m sorry, but I don’t know much about need based financial resources at colleges that might be available. I’d guess that eligibility for Institutional merit awards might be possible and is likely to vary between schools and scholarships. I was thinking that some of the outside scholarships might work. For instance, the HSF says:</p>
<p>Questbridge is a great possibility for this student. The application is very time-consuming, and the odds are not great, but the program provides a full ride at 40 colleges, including many that are not otherwise as generous with financial aid. It is good news that she is a 10th grader, so she has time to do the test preparation she will need.</p>
<p>DACA kids are eligible for Questbridge. Another program that is great is Hamilton Scholars.[The</a> Alexander Hamilton Friends Association](<a href=“http://www.hamiltonfriends.org/]The”>http://www.hamiltonfriends.org/) It doesn’t say anything about citizenship. Another organization that has helped my undocumented students is the Tiger Woods Foundation. They have a great director and she is very helpful. </p>
<p>Also check out collegeboard.org- there is a whole section there for undocumented students. I also believe the National Association of College Admission Counselors has a section for undocumented students. </p>
<p>Here is information that I am reprinting from a response on NACAC listserve that I saved:</p>
<p>Depends on the state where you are from. Here is a website that describes the differences in admissions and financial aid policies across states: [National</a> Map | uLEADNet.org](<a href=“Find the Best Online Program of Your Choice | Go Degree”>Find the Best Online Program of Your Choice | Go Degree). For example, IL offers undocumented students in-state tuition for public institutions, not all states have this legislation. Private colleges also have the flexibility to create their own admission and financial aid policies. Therefore, I would recommend that you find colleges the student is interested in and ask them for their own policies.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. It has helped my Dream Act students before. </p>
<p>Also take the student to the National College Fair when it comes to your area. Ask each rep about whether they accept and provide fin. aid to dream act students. I did that and found some colleges that way. Many colleges do not advertise like Stanford that they help undocumented students so you have to proactive in getting the information. I know either St. Edwards or it may be St. Mary’s in Texas has a special fund for undocumented students. Also Puguet Sound. </p>
<p>For states that do not treat undocumented as residents it can be difficult but it can be done.</p>
<p>Wow…all I can say is Wow! CC strikes again. Thank you for sharing all of this hard won information! A number of the kids in the class are Dream Act students and I will share this with fellow mentors. The guidance counselors really only know about local schools and Virginia is certainly not a friendly place to be a Dream Act student. Perhaps with a change in the governor’s mansion this year things will be different. </p>
<p>I will keep a meticulous record of any new info I learn about resources for dream act kids and save it to share with others. Pay it forward…</p>
<p>Also look at the newfuturo website. A bunch of resources helpful to dream act kids is posted on the sticky thread. You just have to do a lot of internet research to find it. Also check out the hispanic congressional caucus website. They have a very large handout and I think some of it is relevant to dream act kids. again it should be on the sticky thread or search this forum for it. Do not have her apply to state schools in Georgia; Alabama or Arizona. They passed laws that will not even allow state colleges to accept dream act kids no matter how smart they are. Some private colleges are dream act friendly and others are not since they need the federal aid to make is affordable for the low-income applicant. You just have to keep on asking reps and if they are not dream act friendly then ask them if they know who is. The top tier schools are dream act friendly but the problem is getting the student accepted to those schools. Collegeboard has a whole section on it too. Good luck. </p>
<p>It looks very promising. The link for the program is <a href=“http://thedream.us/”>http://thedream.us/</a> The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are also involved. March 31 is the deadline and the scholarship is $25K. Students have to be accepted to a partner college. I am having trouble downloading that list but it looks like there are a lot of choices. Hope this helps your student. </p>