Undocumented immigrants are applying for financial aid to attend NJ colleges

It took Yetzul Salazar a decade after her graduation from high school before she began classes at Passaic County Community College.

Salazar, 30, of Clifton, was raising a son, and she was concerned about her undocumented status. Then, after two years of part-time courses in child development, Salazar took another break in December — this time because she couldn’t afford to pay the spring tuition.

Now, however, she has good reason to believe things will improve in the fall, when New Jersey will begin distributing financial aid to undocumented students who qualify to attend college in the state.

“If I get financial aid, I may change my major to accounting,’’ Salazar, a native of Mexico who moved to the United States when she was 10, said as she filled out an online financial aid application at Mi Casa es Puebla in Passaic last week. “I can then finish school, graduate, and have a better job and give my son a better life.”

Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law in May extending financial aid to undocumented students in New Jersey who meet certain criteria.  

It’s not clear how many students have taken advantage of the new law. A spokeswoman for the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority, or HESAA, which administers the program along with the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education, said that applying for aid is a three-part process, and that it is too early to provide figures.

“We have to verify their enrollment, and how many credits and all of that,’’ said the spokeswoman, Jennifer Azzarano. “All we are doing is collecting applications, and we are working collaboratively with the schools because they have to verify on their end.” 

Still, there is anecdotal evidence that newly eligible students are taking advantage of the expanded aid. Nedia Morsy, a lead organizer for Make the Road New Jersey, an immigrant rights group, said youth volunteers from her organization and others have helped more than 300 people from across the state fill out the form, known as the New Jersey Alternative Financial Aid Application.

Make the Road New Jersey, which lobbies for policies on behalf of immigrant families, has held several information sessions and hands-on workshops to help immigrants fill out the application, Morsy said. 

“We plan on doing one every week from here on out,’’ she said, noting that sessions have been held in Hackensack, Dover, Elizabeth, Bridgeton, Vineland and Jersey City. “Every time we do it, usually at the end of the workshop we have had 35 applications.” 

David J. Socolow, the executive director of HESAA, said the agency is reaching out to colleges, high schools and community organizations to let them know that financial aid has been extended to undocumented immigrants. The deadline to submit an application to receive aid for the fall semester is Sept. 15. 

“What we are trying to do is ensure the success of Governor Murphy’s initiative here,’’ he said in a phone interview last week. “And [we] essentially hope that all students who are eligible take the time to fill out the application and see what kind of help is available to help them achieve their dreams and complete a college education.” 

He said the application was available online the day the governor signed the bill into law, and that the agency has been accepting applications since. 

Who is eligible?

The law expanded the Tuition Equality Act, which has allowed undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition at New Jersey public colleges and universities. When he signed the measure in 2013, Gov. Chris Christie conditionally vetoed the financial aid component of the law.

Murphy had pledged during his campaign last year that he would support a measure to extend financial aid to undocumented students. 

Undocumented immigrants interested in applying for financial aid must have attended high school in New Jersey for three or more years. They also must have registered for selective service, graduated from a New Jersey high school or received the equivalent of a high school diploma in New Jersey. 

As part of the application process, they must also submit an affidavit stating that they will file an application to legalize their immigration status or that they will file an application as soon as they are able to do so. 

The application form for the program is used to determine awards not only for the New Jersey Tuition Aid Grant, or TAG, program, but also for the NJ STARS and NJ STARS II scholarship programs, according to information on the form. NJ STARS covers the cost of tuition at New Jersey’s 19 community colleges for students who rank in the top 15 percent of their high school class at the end of their junior or senior year. The NJ STARS II program allows students who earn associate’s degrees with a grade point average of 3.25 or higher to apply for up to $2,500 per year in scholarship money at any New Jersey public or independent four-year college or university.

Undocumented students will also be eligible for the Equal Opportunity Fund, which provides financial assistance and support services to students from educationally and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Undergraduate grants range from $200 to $2,500 annually, depending on the type of institution and degree of financial need, according to the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education. 

Forty-one of New Jersey’s community colleges and public and private four-year colleges and universities participate in the Equal Opportunity Fund program, and the available spaces at each college or university are limited. 

In the 2017-18 school year, around 13,000 undergraduate students participated in the fund, said Hasani Carter, the program’s acting statewide director. He said the new law will allow for a more “robust applicant pool to pull from.”

“Those students now have the right just like any other non-DACA student to be considered for an EOF program,” Carter said, referring to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program that offers work permits and protection from deportation to young undocumented immigrants who came to the country as children. 

How much will it cost?

The state has allocated $432.9 million for the 2018-19 school year for the TAG program, $7 million more than in the previous academic year, according to a 2019 budget in brief from the state Treasury Department.

About 70,000 students receive TAG grants every year, depending on how many people apply and are eligible to receive the awards, Socolow said. 

He said the funds allocated for the TAG grants do not include any state money that is spent on the Equal Opportunity Fund or other state aid programs. The 2019 state budget also increases EOF funds by $1.5 million to address staffing needs, according to the budget in brief.

How many will apply?

The legislation would allow undocumented students enrolled at more than 50 institutions of higher education in the state, including public and private colleges, to apply for financial assistance.

New Jersey does not keep track of how many undocumented immigrants are enrolled in college, but earlier this year the Office of Legislative Services asked all of the state’s four-year public colleges and universities how many students were paying in-state tuition under the Tuition Equality Act. Nine schools responded that a total of 759 students were enrolled and paying in-state tuition. 

William Paterson University in Wayne declined to answer, and Rowan University in Glassboro said the school doesn’t ask students if they are citizens. Community colleges, which also enroll undocumented students, were not surveyed. 

Socolow stressed that not all students who qualify for in-state tuition would be eligible for financial aid. 

“We are not assuming that this is the number of students who will receive financial aid,” Socolow said. 

Salazar, of Clifton, was among those attending a financial aid workshop last week in Passaic, sponsored by Make the Road New Jersey. Salazar said she received her first work permit in 2011 when she successfully petitioned for the cancellation of a deportation order. She said she later applied for and received protection under the DACA program. Her DACA status gave her a work permit and a Social Security card, but she said it recently expired. 

She said she attended the workshop to get guidance as she filled out the form. 

“I was afraid of the questions and whether I would be able to answer them,” said Salazar, who has a job assembling parts for an aviation company in Essex County. 

Another participant, Idali Gil, 18, of Passaic, plans to attend Montclair State University in the fall, and said she hopes to get some aid to help her pay more than $10,000 in annual tuition and fees. Otherwise, she said, she’ll have to figure out how to cover the cost with the money she makes working part time in the food court at the Westfield Garden State Plaza mall in Paramus. 

“Anything will be good to receive,’’ said Gil, who was born in Mexico and came to the United States when she was 2. 

Sandra Brito, 25, of Garfield received a GED in May and is now setting her sights on college. A mother of two young daughters, she is currently protected from deportation through DACA.  

Brito said state financial aid will allow her to attend Bergen Community College and pursue a career as a medical assistant. 

“I feel like we deserve an opportunity,” said Brito, who was born in Mexico and came to the United States at age 12.  

Jazmin Aldana, 20, aspires to be a nurse. Unable to attend college, she works a night shift at a warehouse where she packs makeup. Aldana came from Mexico before her second birthday, but said she never applied for DACA because she didn’t know it existed. She said she is optimistic that she will be able to enroll in college now that financial aid is within reach.  

“I didn’t think I would go to college,” she said. “I just thought I would just work.”

Email: alvarado@northjersey.com

 

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