Miami, FL July 6, 2017 – TheDream.US, the nation’s largest college access and success scholarship program for DREAMers, recently announced it has awarded more than 1,200 scholarships worth $30M to support undocumented students attending college this fall. Miami Dade College (MDC) is a founding partner of TheDream.US with more than 100 MDC students being awarded scholarships since the establishment of this fund.
Since 2013, TheDream.US has helped nearly 3,000 DREAMers afford a college education. Despite the United States being the only country most have ever known, DREAMers receive no federal assistance to pay for college, have limited access to state aid, and often face paying cost prohibitive, out-of-state tuition.
“The DREAMer movement began at MDC when a group of undocumented students walked to Washington, D.C., to state their case before Congress,” said MDC’s President Dr. Eduardo J. Padrón. “These students – the DREAMers – are hard-working, dedicated and motivated. They deserve every opportunity to make the American Dream their own reality. These scholarships will change the lives of many DREAMers and enable them to fully contribute to our great nation.”
Ximena Bouroncle is a true testament of how MDC and the Dream.US scholarship changed her life. After graduating from high school in 2009, she waited five long years to continue her studies. Bouroncle recalled, at times, feeling “trapped in a dark tunnel without an exit.” Until she was approved for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and was able to enroll at MDC. This spring, she graduated with a 3.52 GPA and received an associate degree in Psychology. She is one of many MDC students that has greatly benefited since the establishment of the fund.
The scholarships come at an uncertain time for the nearly 800,000 DREAMers who are protected under the DACA program. Although the Administration has stressed the DACA program and DREAMers need to be handled with “compassion and heart,” the long-term fate of the program remains in question.
“While we worried that the fear and uncertainty would negatively impact the number of DREAMers applying for scholarships this year, we instead saw a record number of qualified applicants,” said Candy Marshall. “Thanks to the support of our founders and partner organizations, we redoubled our efforts to support as many deserving and motivated students as we could.”
Supporters of TheDream.US share the belief that DREAMers deserve the opportunity to get a college education, including former Washington Post Chairman Donald Graham and investigative journalist Amanda Bennett (both co-founders), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Pershing Square Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Bill and Steve Graham, and the Omidyar Network.
About TheDream.US
Co-founded by former Washington Post chairman Donald Graham; finance chief of the Democratic National Committee, Henry R. Muñoz III; former Secretary of Commerce for President George W. Bush, Carlos Gutierrez; and Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Amanda Bennett, TheDream.US is the nation’s largest college access and success program for DREAMers. Its goal is to enable over 4,000 highly motivated DREAMers to graduate with career-ready degrees over the course of the next decade.
TheDream.US Media Contact: Gaby Pacheco at 202-445-7376, gaby.pacheco@thedream.us
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