Tufts Will Fund Undocumented Students

Somerville, MA, April 21, 2015 – The Tufts administration surprised student demonstrators on April 7 by announcing it will now provide financial assistance to the undocumented students it accepts.

Tufts “will now consider all undocumented students as domestic applicants, including, but not limited to, students with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA),” Dean of Undergraduate Admissions told the 30 to 50 demonstrators who had braved cold and rain to attend a rally organized by Tufts United for Immigrant Justice (Tufts UIJ) and the national group Student Immigrant Movement (SIM).

“This policy change is retroactive to the just completed undergraduate admissions process,” Coffin said. “Accordingly, we have accepted and offered need-based aid to at least five undocumented students and offered them admission to the class of 2019.”

Undocumented students can attend university in the U.S., but they are not eligible for federal or, in most cases, state grants or loans. In the past, Tufts treated undocumented applicants as international students, meaning that unless they had an alternate source of funding, they could not attend.

At the rally, Carlos Rojas, SIM Campaign Coordinator, talked about the challenges he faced to go to college.

“It wasn’t until I was maybe 16 that I started to understand that my status in the United States was going to be a problem,” he said. “It really started to hit home when I went to my guidance counselor to ask ‘What can I do to make sure I go to college?’”

Somerville High School Guidance Counselor, Anne Herzberg, who works with English Language Learners, was pleased with the news.

Students who are academically suited for a university like Tufts, but might not be able to afford the soaring tuition costs “will now have an option to stay locally and attend a really good university,” she said.