When the legislation came up for a vote, it received all no votes from the Republicans but still passed. Now it moves onto the House.

Why Immigrants Should Have Access to Scholarship Funds

The thinking behind this sort of legislation is to help children of immigrants to get a head start on their education by cutting back on college costs and encouraging achievement. It is also believed that students who are sons or daughters of illegal immigrants often pay payroll taxes, meaning they contribute to the system without getting any benefits of it, currently. Students would have to get an EIN or a taxpayer identification number from the IRS to qualify as well. The information obtained when filing isn’t shared with immigration or Homeland Security, allowing illegal immigrants to pay taxes and qualify for a limited number of benefits without being deported.

In many cases, illegal immigrant students were just infants or children when they came here and it would be unjust to penalize them because of what they had no control over. By providing scholarship funds to these children, they are more likely to finish school and contribute to Illinois as well, rather than rely on state programs to survive.

The Fight Against Scholarships for Children of Immigrants

Opponents were primarily concerned with the notion that illegal immigrants would gain access to scholarship funds and attend public universities, which are maintained by tax dollars. This would put an undue strain on an already overstrained system. Some are also worried that this would prevent some citizens from attending college while allowing immigrants a shot at education.

However, most of these concerns are waylaid by the fact that you already have to be a student at a college to get these scholarship funds.

Scholarship Qualifications

In order to qualify for the scholarship, students need to be currently employed and enrolled in college. Should the bill pass, state commissioners would be in charge of distributing the funds to the 95,000 people who qualify.

Should this bill pass the Illinois House of Representatives, it would also allow children of immigrants access to state college savings programs, which can help them plan for college in advance. Though this is a largely divisive issue, these scholarship funds could help just a few more people attend and finish college, which is largely positive when you consider the demand for an educated and qualified workforce.

Scholarships are a type of funding for college typically backed by a private individual, organization or institution and that are distributed based on qualifying factors like age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, field of study, hobby and other determinants.

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