The SUNY Board of Trustees voted unanimously in late January to pass a resolution in support of the ideas promulgated by New York’s DREAM Act.

The bill, which is currently awaiting vote in the New York legislature, would allow undocumented immigrants to receive state financial aid to attend college. The SUNY Board’s resolution in support of the spirit of the act was passed on Wednesday, Jan. 25.

Under current New York law, if an undocumented immigrant is able to prove residence in the state, they are eligible to pay the state tuition rate at SUNY schools. However, they are not able to receive any money from the state in the form of scholarships, grants or financial aid.

The DREAM Act would allow undocumented immigrants attending colleges in New York to receive aid from the state, provided they came to the country before the age of 18 and have lived in New York for at least two years. People over the age of 35 or who have committed a felony would not be eligible to receive state aid.

“The bill itself would help many New Yorkers realize their higher education goals,” said New York State Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo of the 126th district, which encompasses Binghamton University. “As a member of the Assembly Committee on Higher Education, I was pleased to see the SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher, the SUNY Board of Trustees and a host of private colleges and universities from across the state endorse the DREAM Act.”

Lupardo said that this is an issue of fairness.

“Currently, there are an estimated 146,000 young people in New York who have been educated in New York public schools but are ineligible to receive financial aid under state law,” Lupardo wrote in an email. “Many of these students have lived in the United States for most or all of their lives and were brought here under circumstances out of their control.”

New York’s DREAM Act was developed after a federal version of the bill failed to pass in the United States Senate in 2010. In addition to providing financial aid for undocumented immigrants, the federal bill would have also provided a path to citizenship for immigrants attending college in the United States if they lived in the country for at least five years and came to the country before the age of 16.

“The fact that the Board of Trustees took the action they did, the fact that the DREAM Act has a chance of passing in the legislature suggests that New York is bucking the national trend,” said Randall McGuire, an anthropology professor who specializes in immigration. “I think an interesting question would be why is New York bucking the national trend? I think part of the reason is that people here are closer to the immigrant experience, because if it wasn’t their experience it was the experience of their parents and grandparents.”

Both Lupardo and McGuire agreed that the bill is a positive piece of legislation, but also said that permanent solutions to immigration reform need to be handled on the federal level.

“[New York’s DREAM Act] really is only symbolic, the real issue is with citizenship and only the federal government can handle that,” McGuire said.

Only the federal government is able to grant citizenship, but the New York bill posited providing undocumented immigrants attending college with driver’s licenses or identification cards as an alternative to making them citizens.

Donette Francis, an English professor who teaches a class on New York immigrant literature, said she supports the DREAM Act as well as the state providing driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants, but is worried about what identification may do for the community of undocumented immigrants as a whole.

“I have mixed feelings about the identification cards because it has the potential to mark insider/outsider status,” Francis said. “As well, it sets up a stratification system within the undocumented immigrant population.  Those who cannot — because of work and or family obligations — attend college are marked as less desirable. And even, an immigrant student, eligible for the DREAM Act, would be unable to sponsor parent for citizenship since [he/she] is not a citizen.”

It is unclear when the New York State Senate or Assembly will vote on the DREAM Act, according to Lupardo.

“It’s difficult to predict the exact timing, but this will probably be of one of many issues we consider once the state budget has been resolved,” Lupardo said. “The final outcome is difficult to predict because the governor has yet to indicate whether or not he supports the measure.”

Representatives for the SUNY Board of Trustees did not respond to calls for comment from Pipe Dream.

Emily Balmer, a junior majoring in human development, said she thought the Board of Trustees took a major step toward education reform by supporting the DREAM Act.

“I think it’s great [the Board of Trustees] supported the DREAM Act,” Balmer said. “Now people that come over to this country can get the chance to go to a SUNY school and not be denied because of their economic background.”

Jon Rosado, a senior majoring in English, supports the Dream Act but found it interesting that the SUNY Board of Trustees would publicly endorse the bill’s concepts.

“Considering that most people are very anti-illegal immigration, I think it’s a very progressive stance for SUNY to take,” Rosado said.