On Monday, the New Jersey Senate approved a bill to expand the eligibility criteria for financial aid for college students who are also undocumented immigrants. The new bill, S-699, would enable a greater number of in-state college students to apply to receive financial aid, such as tuition aid grants, benefiting students who exited New Jersey after or during high school, as well as young undocumented immigrants.
The bill passed the Senate easily; with ten no votes to 26 yes votes. It will now have to be voted on in the Assembly under the moniker of bill A-3467 before passing into law.
There is some resistance to the new legislation, which is generally split along party lines, with state Senators having previously argued that the resources of the state are too scarce to start opening up the pool of financial aid to students who do not have legal status in the US.
Doug Steinhardt, the chairman of the Republican Party in New Jersey, said that students who do not have legal status should not receive the same benefits as legal immigrants and that Democrats within the legislature, as well as Governor Murphy, need to prioritize spending the scarce resource of taxpayer’s money, as is the case for all the state’s responsible households. Bill S-700, which makes those with US citizenship whose parents have no legal status eligible for financial aid, was also unanimously approved by the state Senate.