{"id":21864,"date":"2019-08-22T15:15:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-22T19:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/?p=21864"},"modified":"2019-08-22T15:15:01","modified_gmt":"2019-08-22T19:15:01","slug":"education-illegal-immigrants-new-jersey-immigrationreform-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2019\/08\/22\/education-illegal-immigrants-new-jersey-immigrationreform-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Forget Rising College Costs, New Jersey Spent $4 million on Financial Aid for Illegal Immigrants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Despite landing among the top five states for highest student debt<\/a>, New Jersey spent nearly $4 million in financial aid for illegal aliens to attend college during both the fall and spring semesters of the 2018-19 school year, according to the North Jersey Record<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Former Republican Gov. Chris Christie opened the benefits spigot in 2013 by signing into law<\/a> a bill allowing illegal immigrants to receive in-state tuition rates, but he would not agree to full financial aid benefits. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy had no reservations and last year agreed<\/a> to a proposal to grant illegal aliens equal access to state financial aid because, he said, they are \u201cjust as American as anyone else.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Murphy\u2019s rhetorical naturalization is interesting\nconsidering one of the eligibility requirements for a financial grant is that\nthe illegal immigrant sign an affidavit saying they will take the steps to be a\nlegal citizen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While Murphy and backers of this reckless policy\nfeel good about \u201cwelcoming\u201d illegal aliens into their communities, they\nconveniently ignore the low-income students who might be denied an opportunity\nto attend college or the 64 percent of students in the state who graduate with\ndebt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The data released by New Jersey\u2019s Higher Education Student Assistance Authority showed that most of the $3.8 million spent was doled out under the\u00a0New Jersey Tuition Aid Grant program<\/a>, which awards grants depending on financial need and available funding<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rutgers University, which received $1.3 million of the total $3.8 million, already offers privately-funded scholarships<\/a> to illegal immigrant students. So, why do they need to be given taxpayer funds? Aren\u2019t the plethora of foundation grants and private scholarships available to illegal aliens?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Murphy has claimed that spending state resources on illegal\naliens is a matter of equity, but what about first fixing the inequities in New\nJersey\u2019s already broken system?<\/p>\n\n\n\n