A national scholarship program that is targeting undocumented immigrant students called "dreamers" is being launched Tuesday. Twelve American universities are taking part, but the number is expected to quickly grow.
With Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), DREAMers were able to stay in the United States and attend college, but many don’t have the means to pay the high cost of tuition.
Now there is a program called thedream.us that over the next decade will provide college scholarships to help highly motivated, low-income undocumented students.
Henry Muñoz is the program’s co-founder.
“And any of those 500,000 to 600,000 young people who are out there and are seeking a college education can go online to thedream.us and begin the process of applying for a scholarship through our program," Muñoz said.
thedream.us was launched with more than $25 million raised for scholarships from philanthropic and business leaders from across the country.
To be eligible for a scholarship from thedream.us, a student must meet DACA eligibility requirements; must have graduated from a U.S.-based high school with a cumulative GPA of 2.5; must demonstrate financial need; and must show a strong motivation to succeed.
The scholarships provided by thedream.us will cover up to 100 percent of a student's tuition, fees and books, depending on demonstrated financial need and the tuition costs.
The institutions participating are South Texas College, University of Texas-El Paso and University of Texas-Pan American in Texas; Borough of Manhattan College, Bronx Community College and Kingsborough Community College in New York; Miami Dade College in Florida; Trinity University in Washington, D.C.; Long Beach City College, California State University of Long Beach in California; and Mount Washington College, a national online college.
