Undocumented College Students will now get Covid-19 Relief Aid

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On Tuesday, the Biden administration announced that it will allow undocumented college students, including Dreamers, to access federal coronavirus relief aid. The move would reverse Trump-era guidance that presented them ineligible for the assistance allocated by US Congress. The newly announced rules by the US Department of Education granted immigrant students to request aid. Those students include those who were protected from deportation by the Obama-era DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program. The students who have been enrolled at a US college or university since 13^th March 2020, will also be able to request aid. The Department confirmed that asylum-seekers, refugees, and undocumented immigrants who are not enrolled in DACA are also eligible for the grants. Point to be noted that Trump-era limits blocked aid for the country’s most needy and vulnerable students.

The Trump administration issued the guidance that supersedes rules in April and June 2020. These rules restricted the pandemic assistance to students who were eligible for federal financial aid under the Higher Education Act of 1965. Those Trump-era rules excluded international and undocumented students, who can’t access federal college assistance. US Congress allocated $12.5 billion under the CARES Act in March 2020, to establish the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund. More than half of that money was required to go to colleges and universities to distribute to students struggling during the pandemic, so they could pay for food, housing, course materials, technology, health care, and child care. The other COVID-19 relief packages signed into law by President Trump in December 2020 and by President Biden in March 2021.

The Biden administration authorized an additional $62.3 billion in funding for the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund and tasked the Department of Education to prioritize students with exceptional needs. The previous coronavirus college aid restrictions initiated several lawsuits and massive criticism from advocates. The Biden administration said it generally agreed with comments that highlighted the pandemic’s disproportionate adverse impact on immigrant communities and people of color. The new rule says, “In their capacity as students, undocumented persons, like all postsecondary students, pursue degrees, obtain employment commensurate with their educational attainment and in doing so contribute to the greater good of the economy and society as a whole. The Department has been persuaded, therefore, by the public comments received that there is no good policy reason to treat them differently”.