Napolitano Pledges $5 Million To Aid Undocumented Students

By Alisa Barba
October 31, 2013

The new University of California President Janet Napolitano said Wednesday she would pledge $5 million to provide counseling and financial aid to UC students living in the country without proper documentation. 

She also said she would increase funds to for financial aid to graduate and post-doctoral students by $10 million.  

In the former Homeland Security Secretary’s first public address since taking the position as the head of the UC system, Napolitano said the university system welcomes all students who qualify academically, regardless of their immigration status:

Consider this a down payment — one more piece of evidence of our commitment to all Californians.

California Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation two years ago allowing students who entered the country illegally to receive state and school financial aid, but these students, known as “DREAMers” are not eligible for federal loans and grants. The Los Angeles Times reports that UC spokeswoman Dianne Klein clarified the pledge of $5 million will help “bridge the gap” in financial need for these students.

Napolitano has faced protests at UC schools and criticism from immigrant activists because of the Obama administration’s deportation policies. Napolitano’s tenure as head of DHS saw a massive increase in deportations.

Prior to her DHS job, Napolitano was governor of Arizona, a state that has passed some of this country’s most restrictive immigration legislation.  

Napolitano reportedly met with student groups representing the DREAMers on her first day on the job.

Klein said the system enrolls an estimated 900 students who fit this category – students brought to this country illegally as children. Klein confirms that this is just an estimate, as the system does not routinely check immigration status. She said 95 percent of these students are undergraduates.  

The term DREAMers comes from the DREAM Act, a piece of stalled federal legislation that would give these youth a path to permanent residency.  DREAM is an acronym for "Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors."

If the estimate of 900 undocumented students is accurate, they make up less than one-half of one percent of the 230,000-strong student body. For students who pay full tuition at the UC schools, tuition rates have been going up steadily in recent years and its likely this pledge of aid for a small percentage of the school population may meet with protest.  

Still, Napolitano and her spokespeople assured reporters the money going toward undocumented students, as well as to graduate and post-doc students, would not come out of operating expenses but out of reserve funds.  

In her Wednesday speech to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Napolitano said the money would be used for financial aid and to provide counseling at each campus to help students apply for aid and negotiate their immigration status. 

They do merit special attention. Oftentimes they are from families who are very poor and first-generation, so have no one out there to talk to them about student life. UC will continue to be a vehicle for social mobility. We teach for California; we research for the world.