An Arizona liberal arts college is levying a new, mandatory student fee to fund a scholarship for illegal immigrants.
Prescott College announced this week that it will be implementing a $30 student fee on all on-campus students beginning with the 2016-2017 academic school year. The fee will go toward what the school is calling the “Freedom Education Fund,” a scholarship available only to illegal immigrant students.
According to the school, Prescott College is the first four-year college in Arizona and the second in the nation to implement a fee that will be funneled to illegal immigrants. Student and faculty activists led the effort to create the scholarship.
“I am proud that our students take on the role of scholar activists. Their passion around this issue really motivated our part to make up the difference between what the fee will provide for and the full cost to attend one of our programs,” Prescott College President John Flicker said in a statement.
“We’re committed to broaden access to higher education for a diverse group of students and mobilize our resources towards social justice,” he added.
The first year Prescott’s “Freedom Education Fund” will finance one illegal immigrant’s tuition but the school says it hopes to expand the scholarship to include more illegal immigrants.
“Within the current political landscape of Arizona it is critical that Prescott College shows our commitment to education as a human right,” Miriel Manning, the founder of the Freedom Education Fund and student in the Social Justice and Human Rights Master of Arts program, added in a statement. “We were inspired by courageous leadership and organizing of undocumented leaders across the country.”