Click here to sign a petition supporting the New York DREAM Act.
You’re a great student, you have a plan for what you want to study in college, and you’re already thinking about a career path, and how you’ll succeed.
There’s only one problem—you’re undocumented and New York State won’t provide tuition assistance to help you pay for college.
For an estimated 200,000 young people in New York, this nightmare is a reality. It doesn’t matter if you were brought to the US as a child, if you grew up here, went to high school here, or if this is the only place you can call home. If you’re undocumented, you’re not eligible for New York’s Tuition Assistance Program to help defray the cost of higher education.
This can change if New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo includes the New York DREAM Act in his executive budget by Tuesday, March 21.
A recent editorial in The New York Times explains why the governor should give his full backing to the bill:
It’s hard to see why Mr. Cuomo should be hesitant to support these measures. It shouldn’t be the expense; a new study by the Fiscal Policy Institute found that the Dream Act would add roughly $17 million, or only 2 percent, to the cost of the Tuition Assistance Program. Students with college degrees make a state more attractive to businesses, earn more and pay more in taxes. Giving a boost to the dreams of undocumented young people is not only the decent thing to do, it’s also a wise investment.
Three other states—Texas, New Mexico, and California—already provide tuition assistance for undocumented students, and New York should become the fourth.
Students support the New York DREAM Act at a March 14 rally in Albany.
This measure won’t solve the biggest problem for undocumented youth—the inability to come out of the shadows and work—but it will empower students to pursue higher education, a small step in the right direction.
Sign this petition and tell Gov. Cuomo to include the New York DREAM Act in his executive budget by March 21. After you sign, take a moment to call his office at 518-474-8390.
When you call the governor’s office, here are sample scripts in English and Spanish, courtesy of Make the Road New York.
Follow this link to hear about the need for the New York DREAM Act firsthand from an undocumented student in the Bronx.
