Education

Emory To Offer Financial Aid To Some Undocumented Students

April 3rd, 2015

For the first time, some undocumented students admitted to Emory University will be able to qualify for financial aid.

Starting in the fall, Emory will offer needs-based financial aid for students with federal Deferred Action status. Emory senior Andy Kim co-founded the group Freedom at Emory University, which fought for the change.

“Although it’s an extremely positive step forward, and we’re very happy with the results we’ve had at Emory, it’s still important to note the larger issue at hand,” Kim said.

Kim said the larger issue is that undocumented students are banned from the state’s top five public colleges. They can attend other schools, but have to pay in-state tuition. Kim hopes Emory’s policy shift will send a message to the Board of Regents.

“A university that does pride itself on social justice and ethics has publicly identified this as a problem and has made the appropriate changes to do the right thing,” he said.

Emory said in a statement that it will use private, non-governmental sources to fund the financial aid packages.

The full statement from Emory is below:

Emory University is committed to providing financial aid to admitted students who demonstrate need and who qualify under DACA guidelines (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). As a private institution, Emory will use private, non-governmental resources to offer university scholarship support to these qualified students, beginning with the class entering this fall.