A scholarship program that has already assisted nearly 3,000 undocumented immigrant youth go to college has announced another round of awards that will help another 1,200 kids achieve their higher education dreams. TheDream.US, the nation’s largest scholarship program for DREAMers, will award $30 million in scholarships to immigrant youth going to college this fall. Due to their immigration status, federal assistance is unavailable for undocumented immigrant youth, oftentimes making a higher education impossible. TheDream.US wants to change that:
“We know these scholarships will change the trajectory of our Scholars’ lives and the lives they touch,” said TheDream.US President, Candy Marshall.
The scholarships come at an uncertain time for the nearly 800,000 DREAMers who are protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Although President Trump has stressed the DACA program and DREAMers need to be handled with “compassion and heart,” the long-term fate of the program remains in question.
“While we worried that the fear and uncertainty would negatively impact the number of DREAMers applying for scholarships this year, we instead saw a record number of qualified applicants,” added Candy Marshall. “Thanks to the support of our founders and partner organizations, we redoubled our efforts to support as many deserving and motivated students as we could.”
According to research from CAP, 46 percent of DACA recipients are in school, with a full 83 percent of those individuals also holding down jobs. Of that chunk, 70 percent are pursuing a BA or higher. A “2016 survey also found that 6 percent of respondents started their own business after receiving DACA. This rate of business starts is higher than that of both the American public as a whole—at 3.1 percent—and the entire immigrant population—at 3.6 percent.”
These kids are tomorrow’s leaders and deserve a chance to succeed in the only country they call home. TheDream.US gives them that chance.