Since moving to Arizona nine years ago, Claudia, 17, a high-school senior in Mesa, has completed 740 community-service hours, has taken college classes and has kept up a 3.7 GPA, hoping to prepare herself to attend ASU to study nursing.
As an undocumented immigrant, Claudia, whose last name is being withheld to avoid identifying her, must pay out-of-state tuition and isn’t eligible for federal aid — a result of Proposition 300 is passing in 2006. And with a tough economy, the American Dream Fund, a private scholarship option, may not be available next year.
“I’m doing everything other [legal] students are doing, why can’t I get the same privileges?” Claudia said. “It wasn’t my fault that my parents decided to bring me here [to Arizona].”
Chicanos Por la Causa created the American Dream Fund in 2008. President and CEO Edmundo Hidalgo said the organization was able to fundraise $5.5 million dollars, $2 million short of the expected goal, to provide scholarships for about 200 undocumented students attending ASU.
However, Hidalgo said the group is unsure whether there will be enough funds for incoming freshmen like Claudia.
“Right now, we have enough funding to fund the continuing students for an additional year, but not for new students,” Hidalgo said.
Chicanos Por la Causa continues to encourage people to donate money to maintain the dream of going to college for many undocumented students.
“These are highly qualified students,” Hidalgo said. “We want the general community to understand that these students are as American as everyone else.”
Hidalgo said he believes undocumented students deserve this scholarship.
“What I see in this country is the need to recognize the value of these students who have grown up here, are graduating from universities and have the skills to work and contribute to the economy,” Hidalgo said.
In response to Proposition 300, President Michael Crow worked with the ASU Foundation to create the Sunburst Scholarship in 2007, which used private money to give undocumented students scholarships. It eventually was shut down because of a lack of funds.
“These are students that have graduated from Arizona high schools; they’re fantastically qualified to attend the University,” Crow said last November. “My job is to educate people who want to be educated, and these students want to be educated.”
State Treasurer Dean Martin is a supporter of Proposition 300. He said its original intent was never to block any private-sector dollars to undocumented students.
The original intent of the bill was simply to limit what the government did with taxpayers’ subsidies to provide tuition, or to use taxpayer resources in such a way to subsidize it, Martin said.
He said he does not have any problem with any private organizations, like Chicanos Por la Causa, who provide scholarships to undocumented students.
“If the private sector wants to subsidize something that’s fine, I just don’t want state tax dollars or resources going toward it,” Martin said.
Hidalgo said the American Dream Fund Scholarship is different from the Sunburst Scholarship because it is not bound by the restrictions or imitations of Proposition 300.
Jose (whose last name is being withheld), 22, an undocumented student who just graduated in December and was an American Dream Fund scholar, said he has been in the country since he was 4 years old.
Jose said many undocumented students live in constant fear that the American Dream Fund Scholarship will be taken away just like the Sunburst Scholarship.
“I think that instead of being concerned that this scholarship might be taken away, we should take an active measure and inform the community [of] who we are,” Jose said.
Dulce (whose last name is being withheld), is an electrical engineering senior and also an American Dream Fund scholar, said she has met many people who focus on reminding her of the disadvantages of being an undocumented student.
“People have told me you cannot learn English, you cannot go to a university, you cannot work, … you cannot succeed, you are not eligible,” said Dulce. “The American Dream Fund Scholarship represents what I can do and proves the negative people wrong.”
Reach the reporter at griselda.nevarez@asu.edu.
