Financial aid for students without legal immigration status

WTNH

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Should student financial aid be made available to Connecticut college students that do not have legal immigration status? That’s the question that state lawmakers decided Thursday to put to the public within the next couple of weeks.

Anything that has to do with people who are here that don’t have legal status is always a hot potato topic. Their numbers are estimated to be in the thousands, and no one has a firm number on how many kids there are of high school and college age, but we know there are many, and many are good students.

More than five years ago, Connecticut became one of a handful of states that allowed students who do not have legal immigration status to attend state colleges and universities and pay the in-state tuition rate, which can be thousands less than the non-resident tuition rate.

Now, Democratic State Senate President Pro tem Martin Looney, whose New Haven district includes a large immigrant population, wants to extend that benefit. “When they go to college, under this provision, they would be eligible for what we describe as ‘institutional aid,” said Sen. Looney Thursday.

The legislature’s ‘Higher Education Committee‘ voted Thursday to hold a public hearing on the proposal.

Under the new 17 Democrats to 17 Republicans split in the State Senate, both parties have a co-chair on committees. The Republican co-chair is Art Linares, the son of Cuban immigrants that came here legally. Following today’s committee meeting Linares said, “I think that we heard loud and clear, based on President Trump’s inauguration tomorrow, that this is a concern from people. That people want to see folks obey the law when it comes to immigration.”

Another committee member, Democratic State Rep. Robert Sanchez of New Britain said, “I’ve had numerous meetings with these students that are not here, that don’t have the legal status here in the State of Connecticut, and it’s not their fault that their parents came to this country illegally when they were two years old or three years old.”

Advocates for this proposal say that people shouldn’t be concerned about using tax money for this financial aid. “It’s no one’s tax money, it’s actually ‘Institutional Financial Aid.’ It’s coming from students’ tuition. Student’s paying tuition always a portion of that tuition goes to ‘Institutional Financial Aid,” said Sen. Beth Bye of West Hartford who’se the Democratic co-chair of the committee.

Adds Sen. Looney, “Currently they pay into these funds and they are not eligible for any of the aid out of those funds.”

Senator Linares says the state should wait to see what happens at the federal level under the Trump Administration. This proposal passed the State Senate last year on a bipartisan vote with Senator Linares absent, although he said he would have voted No. It never came up in the House.