Bill to deny tuition benefits to undocumented noncitizens clears House committee
News | Published on February 18, 2025 at 5:15pm GMT+0000 | Author: Tucker Henderson
0Yvette Higgins
Report for Minnesota
Republicans in the Minnesota House are pushing to prevent college students who are in the country illegally from getting financial aid from state government.
A bill by Rep. Isaac Schultz, R- Elmdale Township, that prohibits “undocumented noncitizens” from receiving scholarships and grants through the North Star Promise scholarship program cleared the Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee last Tuesday.
The seven Republicans on the committee voted in favor of the bill, and the six Democrats voted against it.
North Star Promise provides financial aid to low-income students at any Minnesota State College or University, University of Minnesota campus, or Tribal college if students meet certain conditions.
A law known as the Minnesota Dream Act, which passed in 2013, allows undocumented students to apply for the program.
The students must have attended a Minnesota high school for at least three years and must have a high school diploma or a GED from Minnesota. They must also apply for legal immigration status.
The Minnesota Dream Act is the only way for undocumented students to become eligible to receive financial aid, Legislative Analyst Nathan Hawkins said during the committee meeting.
Schultz’s bill would also bar undocumented noncitizens from getting health care benefits from the MinnesotaCare program. The Health Finance and Policy committee will hear the bill on Monday.
Schultz said he is trying to address a projected state budget deficit of over $5 billion in the next few years by prohibiting government spending on financial aid for undocumented immigrants.
“With this bill, hundreds of millions of dollars will be able to be protected for Minnesota taxpayers and American citizens,” Schultz said.
Since the beginning of the North Star Promise scholarship program in the fall of 2024, undocumented students have received $86,399 of taxpayer money in financial aid as of Jan. 15, according to Office of Higher Education Commissioner Dennis Olson.
Only 0.7% of North Star Promise financial aid recipients were undocumented immigrants in the 2024 fiscal year.
Rep. Ginny Klevorn, DFL-Plymouth, said in an interview that the bill would not solve the state’s economic problems because the $86,399 given to undocumented students is not a lot.
“There was a political message being delivered today in the guise of saving the state money,” Klevorn said.
At least one person who spoke at the committee meeting said the ability of undocumented students to access tuition benefits would help, not hurt, the economy.
“We want social mobility, not a permanent underclass,” said Danielle Haque, an English professor at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Several committee members said the vote on the bill was rushed with only two minutes for questions. They asked to postpone the vote to a later meeting.
Committee chair Rep. Marion Rarick, R-Maple Lake, refused to table the bill because she said it will come back to the committee after the higher education office provides updated figures on the amount of money undocumented immigrants have received through the program.
Rep. Mohamud Noor, D-Minneapolis, who voted “absolutely not” on the bill, said in an interview the measure would deny scholarships to students who would become legal citizens and who would eventually work, pay taxes and contribute back to the state.
“This is not the Minnesota that we all believe in,” Noor said.
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