Thread: When corp.scholarship winner is illegal!

When the Corporate Scholarship
Winner Is Here Illegally

By MIRIAM JORDAN
May 30, 2006; Page B1

Earlier this year, Hector Vega learned from the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation that he was one of 250 winners of a merit scholarship that had drawn applications from 50,000 high-school seniors across the country. "I was so excited," recalls the straight-A student from San Jose, Calif., who had been scrambling to raise funds for college.

But his joy turned to tears on Feb. 14, when he received an email from the foundation. It said "they couldn't give me any money because of my immigration status," recalls Mr. Vega, an illegal immigrant who is the co-valedictorian of the senior class at James Lick High School.

U.S. companies and their affiliated foundations are facing a new challenge: whether to award scholarships to students who are in the U.S. illegally. Coke's foundation has been rewarding students who display a strong commitment to community service for 18 years, but this was the first year it confronted the hot-button issue of illegal immigration. "Everyone is wrestling with this," says Mark Davis, the foundation's president. The group eventually decided to give Mr. Vega the scholarship after he proved he is pursuing legal residency.

Currently, most U.S. corporations award scholarships only to students who can prove they are legal residents, typically by filling in the boxes provided for a Social Security number. But amid the swelling ranks of illegal-immigrant students, the question of whether to reward those among them with stellar academic records has increasingly come to the fore.


"The tension is between wanting to do the right thing by the kids and making sure that they remain within the letter and spirit of the law," says Colleen Quint, president of the National Association of Scholarship Providers, a nonprofit group whose members include companies like Coke. The topic of illegal-immigrant students will be on the association's agenda at its annual meeting in the fall, according to Ms. Quint.

Few companies are willing to speak openly about their policy regarding scholarship applicants who are in the U.S. illegally. "Most corporate foundations simply want to give scholarships to kids who deserve them," says David Rattray, vice president of education and work-force development at the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, which awards college money to undocumented students. However, he says, "pragmatic corporate America" is coming face to face with hard-line public discourse on illegal immigration.

The Hispanic Scholarship Fund, which is supported by big-name companies like Anheuser-Busch Cos., approached donors a few years ago about offering scholarships on a limited basis to students here illegally. Only two corporate foundations stepped forward, says fund President Sara Martinez Tucker. This year, amid the immigration debate in Congress, the fund's attorneys reviewed federal law and decided it was too risky to continue the practice. HSF, which disburses about $25 million in scholarships annually to Latino students, "can't jeopardize that for the sake" of a minority of undocumented students, says Ms. Martinez Tucker.

Some companies have a policy that amounts to "don't ask, don't tell." For example, Microsoft Corp. simply doesn't request proof of legal residency. "I don't know that we are intentionally accommodating these students," says a Microsoft spokesman. "What is relevant to us is the fact that someone is a student in good standing whose potential we can help realize." The San Francisco affiliate of Spanish-language network Univision awards scholarships to Latino students who aren't legal residents, as long as they provide an ITIN, the taxpayer identification number that foreigners use to pay U.S. taxes.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. won't consider illegal-immigrant students for its scholarship program. But last year, its foundation stopped requiring that applicants be U.S. citizens. Instead, it requires "at least one year as a permanent legal resident" in the U.S. for its Sam Walton Community Scholarship, which is awarded to graduating seniors.

By the end of June, some 65,000 undocumented students are expected to graduate from U.S. high schools. The majority are Hispanics who were smuggled into the U.S. by their parents when they were babies or toddlers. Others, like Mr. Vega, crossed the border illegally when they were older to join family members already here.

Unlike other graduates of U.S. high schools, illegal immigrants can't qualify for federal grants and loans or work-study programs to finance their higher education. Ten states, including California and Texas, have tried to make college more affordable for undocumented immigrants by passing legislation that allows them to pay in-state tuition. But for many of these students, even state fees are prohibitive.

Bipartisan legislation, known as the Dream Act, would enable illegal immigrants who have earned a high-school diploma and received a college acceptance to qualify for federal aid other than grants by putting them on the path to citizenship. But the future of the legislation, introduced five years ago, remains unclear. It is attached to the immigration bill that passed the Senate Thursday. But the bill must still go to a conference committee to try to resolve differences with the House bill passed in December.

Undocumented students determined to further their education usually work part time to save money and try to tap into private scholarship funds. Mr. Vega, whose mother works in the kitchen of a nursing home and part time at a fast-food outlet, began to trawl the Web for scholarships last fall. He applied for several corporate ones even though they required legal residency. The biggest one was Coke's. It requested a Social Security number. Mr. Vega, who doesn't have one, filled in number ones on the electronic form so that he could move onto the next part of the application. "I told myself that maybe all that matters is that you earned it and deserved what you're getting," he says.

Later, on learning from the Coke foundation that his $4,000 scholarship would be withdrawn because he didn't have documentation to prove he was a legal resident of the U.S., two of Mr. Vega's teachers called Coke headquarters in Atlanta to try to intervene. Mr. Vega also left a message on the voice mail of Mr. Davis, the foundation president, asking him to reconsider his case. A few days later, an official from the foundation contacted Mr. Vega and asked if he could prove that he was in the process of rectifying his immigration status.

Eventually, an immigration attorney wrote Coke a letter to attest that Mr. Vega was submitting an application for legal residency. Specifically, a relative, Francisco Vega, who is a U.S. citizen, was going to try to sponsor the student for a green card. Though it could take many years for Mr. Vega to secure residency, the application was enough to make Coke "comfortable" and award the scholarship, Mr. Davis says. "That was a good-faith effort we were looking for on his part to gain citizenship."

In April, Mr. Vega was in Atlanta for a celebratory banquet with the other scholarship recipients. After a series of interviews, 50 out of the 250 winners were selected for a higher $20,000 scholarship. Mr. Vega was one of them. He has also been notified that he has won a $1,000 scholarship from MetroPCS, a Dallas-based provider of wireless services. He was among 100 students out of 5,400 nominees who received a $1,000 award from the National Association of Secondary School Principals. And he got smaller scholarships from Hispanic groups, as well as from the college he will be attending.

In September Mr. Vega will start his freshman year at Santa Clara University, a Jesuit institution in Santa Clara, Calif

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB ... ?mod=blogs

Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation has been reported to have pulled financial support from La Raza in 2004. Good to see they are still going in the right direction.

Do Not Support the American Dream Act HR 5131 or the Dream Act S 2075, which will give college tuition and in-state tuition rates to Illegal Aliens; Considering 65,000 Illegal Aliens graduate from American High Schools each year, that represents a lot of lost tuition income. Our government and other students will pay the financial difference for those illegal students.

American Dream Act HR 5131
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h109-5131

Dream Act S 2075
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s109-2075

So in the end the foreign national, Mr. Vega, gets the money instead of an American and in the end Mr. Vega has one of the limited seats in our University systems that belonged to an American?

Anyone know much about Santa Clara University, a Jesuit institution?

W

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

So in the end the foreign national, Mr. Vega, gets the money instead of an American and in the end Mr. Vega has one of the limited seats in our University systems that belonged to an American?

Anyone know much about Santa Clara University, a Jesuit institution?

W

Well, I did the community service, I did my homework, I stayed late finishing my projects, I worked hard to support my mother and sister, I filled up the application, I prepared for the interview, I gave my 200% effort, and that other "American" did not.

Therefore, I deserve it.

Any comments about me, I'm here to respond and defend my stand and the one from other immigrants.

Originally Posted by HectorVega

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

So in the end the foreign national, Mr. Vega, gets the money instead of an American and in the end Mr. Vega has one of the limited seats in our University systems that belonged to an American?

Anyone know much about Santa Clara University, a Jesuit institution?

W

Well, I did the community service, I did my homework, I stayed late finishing my projects, I worked hard to support my mother and sister, I filled up the application, I prepared for the interview, I gave my 200% effort, and that other "American" did not.

Therefore, I deserve it.

Any comments about me, I'm here to respond and defend my stand and the one from other immigrants.

LOL, I'm absolutely positive that there were more than ONE American who did all that and more, Mr. Vega.

It would make your case stronger, indeed, if you were to provide Proof that no American, lol, lived up to your "THAT AND MORE."

So in the end the foreign national, Mr. Vega, gets the money instead of an American and in the end Mr. Vega has one of the limited seats in our University systems that belonged to an American?

1. The money I got comes from private places. In no way would it affect the government's fund.

2. I have never heard in CA that someone couldn't go to college because there was simply no space for them. There is a place for everyone, it all depends on how much efforts one puts into his dream. You cannot say that my place belongs to someone else. I was not gifted or donated my awards, I earned them.

3. I am one of the few if not the only one wiht my conditions that corporations such as my donors have awarded money to. You should not think they are simply throwing money to UNDOCUMENTED students.

I know better than to try to change people's minds. That takes time, so I'm not trying to change yours. But I do feel that I should speak too if you have the opportunity to.

Originally Posted by 2ndamendsis

Originally Posted by HectorVega

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

So in the end the foreign national, Mr. Vega, gets the money instead of an American and in the end Mr. Vega has one of the limited seats in our University systems that belonged to an American?

Anyone know much about Santa Clara University, a Jesuit institution?

W

Well, I did the community service, I did my homework, I stayed late finishing my projects, I worked hard to support my mother and sister, I filled up the application, I prepared for the interview, I gave my 200% effort, and that other "American" did not.

Therefore, I deserve it.

Any comments about me, I'm here to respond and defend my stand and the one from other immigrants.

LOL, I'm absolutely positive that there were more than ONE American who did all that and more, Mr. Vega.

It would make your case stronger, indeed, if you were to provide Proof that no American, lol, lived up to your "THAT AND MORE."

Of course, one of my scholarships received over 50,000 applications. But if I was awarded it was because I deserved it more than others. Being documented or not does not change my abilities in academics and community-improvement actions.

Hector,
After going to college, how will you get a job? If the immigration bills become tough and do not allow amnesty, you will be taking the education that these scholarships afforded you back to Mexico! If it had been giving to a legal immigrant or citizen than that education would have been benefiting America.

LOL with you education, we are not saying that you did not work hard in your community or your own education. I wish there were more students out there with you commitment. I just wish that your parents had brought you here the right way in obeying our laws!!!

Mr. Vega, you talk a lot about people being "deserving". Do you think that you are "deserving" of being punished for breaking United States Immigration laws ?

Fair is fair. Let's talk about it. You won the scholarship, I think you should win some jail time too.

Mr. Vega:

Do you have any estimate on how much money Americans have been forced to pay to provide for your education, immunizations, and healthcare up to this point? Since your family chose to break our laws and come illegally the chances are very high we have been forced to spend thousands of dollars on you. It is not the case 100% of the time but it is the rule more than the exception for illegal aliens. So if the American taxpayers have been forced to pay for these things for you and your family after you broke our laws to get that, then that is stealing and you have stolen it.

Next, those Universities you want to attend and those highways you are driving on took GENERATIONS of Americans to build, pay for, and develop. It takes more than a lifetime to build most of these and it takes the collective taxes of millions of Americans over decades to create. You and your family have just barged right in to grab that too.

You may have studied hard, but even so an American with a lower GPA deserves that seat in college more than you do. We have a responsibility to educate under performing Americans because they are our national responsibility. You are a citizen of another nation. That nation is your legal home. In case you have not noticed, people around the world do not get to just decide where they want to go and go there.

Also, many colleges offer a great deal of extra points on your application if you can prove minority status. That means that an American kid that may have studied harder than you, scored better on tests than you, given up more of their life to succeed than you, might not get the seat because of reverse discrimination.

Yes, in case you did not know there are limited seats in colleges and most fill to capacity each year and turn people away.

Who ever told you that everyone got to go to college much less the college of their choice?

The fact you are applying for legal citizenship does not mean you will be granted legal citizenship. It is illegal for you to be working a job in this country. I guess you work that harder than a lazy American would too eh?

You are the face they want to put on the illegal alien movement. The poor hapless child that was brought here against their will that has worked hard and studied hard that has no future if they return home as the current laws states. Therefore, let's just bring those laws down even further.

Hell no! No in-state tuition for illegal aliens. No corporate grants for illegal aliens! No licenses. Nada!

Take the things you have already stolen from us and leave as the current law requires you to do.

You should not be in a newspaper crying about how you can't take more American money to take a college seat from an American.

You should be in a newspaper article about how you and any other illegal alien members of your family are on the way back to your homes in the countries of which you are citizens of.

Don't let your PR handlers fool you. This is the mood of the nation. This is what Americans want to see happen. This is what will happen or America will end up like the place you feel you don't want to return to.

W