Open student aid to immigrants

As a science teacher in East Hartford, I urge our legislators to support HB5031, a bill equalizing access to student-generated institutional aid in Connecticut public colleges and universities for all of Connecticut’s students, regardless of immigration status.

The CREC magnet school system was created as a result of the Sheff vs. O’Neill case in 1996, to provide equal access to education for all children in the Hartford area. I know that we are still working to provide equal opportunities to all children, regardless of their ZIP codes.

Numerous families at my school are immigrant families, and our immigrant students are afforded no fewer opportunities to succeed.

Why should they not have the same opportunities in higher education? It is unfair to allow some students access to institutional aid while excluding others, especially when undocumented students pay into the institutional aid pool just as documented students do.

Legislators should support equal access to institutional aid, because undocumented students contribute significantly to our schools, communities, and economy.

Education is the seed that helps to solve other societal problems. All students should have equal access to student-generated institutional financial aid. Claire Hamel Ledyard