For Immediate Release: November 1, 2018
Contact: Michael Earls at 202-494-8555 and [email protected]
Washington, DC –TheDream.US, the nation’s largest college access and success program for immigrant youth, today opened its new round of scholarship applications for the 2019-2020 academic year (learn more and how to apply here). TheDream.US, which has provided more than 4,000 scholarships to students with DACA and TPS at more than 75 partner colleges in 15 states and Washington, DC, believes that all young people, regardless of where they were born, should have the opportunity to fulfill their potential, gain an education, and fully participate in the country that they call home. To date, the organization has committed more than $140 million in scholarship money for DREAMers.
The new scholarship round comes after TheDream.US’s recent release of In Their Own Words, a report summarizing the responses and implications from a national survey of 1,400 TheDream.US Scholars. The survey results underscore how important educational gains are to Scholars’ dreams and futures, while painting a portrait of the uncertainty and anxiety that Scholars face in a difficult immigration climate, particularly with the forthcoming end of DACA and TPS.
According to Donald E Graham, former publisher of the Washington Post and Co-Founder of TheDream.US, “We remain fully committed to helping DREAMers access a college education. But, let’s be clear, the most powerful commitment continues to be from DREAMers themselves. As described “In Their Own Words” and as demonstrated by the record number of scholarship applications TheDream.US received last year, DREAMers hold steadfast to the belief that no one can take a college education away from them.”
TheDream.US is pleased to announce that, with the expansion of the availability of state aid to New Jersey DREAMers, TheDream.US is expanding its NJ partnerships to include Rutgers University–New Brunswick. This state aid combined with TheDream.US scholarship will afford more DREAMers in NJ the opportunity to get a college education. Our hope is that other states will follow New Jersey’s lead and extend financial and institutional aid to DREAMers.
In an unfortunate contrast, the Arizona Supreme Court made it more difficult for AZ DREAMers to access higher education in a ruling denying these students of in-state tuition. Recognizing the devastating impact this could have on Arizona’s DREAMers, Benedictine University Mesa and Grand Canyon University joined Arizona State University to serve the TheDream.US Scholars who were left in limbo. All three colleges have agreed to close the gap between the costs of tuition and fees and TheDream.US scholarship award of up to $33,000 for a bachelor’s degree. ASU is able to do so through the help of local donors.
TheDream.US offers two scholarships. The National Scholarship of up to $33,000 for a bachelor’s degree is for high school or community college graduates. The Opportunity Scholarship of up to $80,000 is for students who live in targeted, locked-out states where they cannot get in-state tuition and provides them the opportunity to attend a Partner College outside of their home state.
- Learn more about the new round of TheDream.US Scholarships at: https://www.thedream.us/scholarships/
- Read a copy of TheDream.US report In Their Own Words available in full online here
- Read through TheDream.US Scholar story-bank, featuring powerful personal reflections from Scholars about their lives, journeys, and future goals here
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