University launches 'dream fund' to help DACA students

The University of Minnesota is soliciting donations for its new "Dream Fund," which will help illegal immigrant students in "extenuating emergencies."

A university spokesperson told Campus Reform that the fund is actually modeled off of several other schools that have started similar programs.

The University of Minnesota is now soliciting donations from students and staff to help support illegal immigrant students with “at risk” legal status.

The new scholarship fund, known as “The Dream Fund,” is managed by the university’s Immigration Response team, which launched the program “to help students whose ability to pay for college may be affected by their legal status.”

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According to The Dream Fund’s website, members of the university community are asked to “please consider a contribution,” noting that the funds will “provide financial assistance for housing, groceries, books, medical or dental care or other extenuating emergencies.”

“The fund will be available to undocumented students, students with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and students whose Temporary Protected Status has ended,” the website notes.

The university told Campus Reform that the fund “is in response to requests from private individuals wanting to help students in financial hardship due to circumstances out of their control.”

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“No university dollars are going to this fund, and it is modeled after other funds at public universities created for the same purpose such as the University of Utah, Western Michigan University and University of Nebraska Omaha,” the university elaborated.

Applicants for the scholarship will be required to prove that they are undergoing financial hardship stemming from immigration related complications.  

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