USD School of Law has new scholarship for DACA students

Kate Morrissey San Diego Union Tribune
Aug 27, 2018

University of San Diego School of Law has a new scholarship fund for unauthorized immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.

Though the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program protects these immigrants from deportation, it does not give them access to federal funding for higher education. USD School of Law hopes that having such a scholarship will enable more DACA recipients to go to law school.




“What we’re trying to do is make sure they’re completely on a level playing field,” said Dean Stephen C. Ferruolo.

He noted that DACA recipients can receive some funding for school through the state of California. That aid is limited, he said.


For many DACA recipients, gathering enough money to get a bachelor’s can be challenging, let alone a graduate or professional program. In a recent survey of DACA recipients, just over 21 percent said they were working on a degree beyond a bachelor’s.

If their parents are in the U.S., they are generally not authorized to work, meaning they are often paid under the table with low wages. That limits the amount that their parents can contribute towards their education.


Many DACA recipients use the work permits that come with the deferred action program to pay their way through school.

The law school scholarship is part of a university-wide effort to provide more support to DACA recipients, according to USD.


When the university asked donors to help start a fund for law students with DACA, San Diego attorney John Gomez, who graduated from USD, stepped forward.

“I feel compelled as a Christian — and my dad is from Mexico — to offer opportunities and acceptance to kids who through no fault of their own just didn’t happen to have been born here,” Gomez said. “As we look back about the importance of education in our lives, I think we have to recognize that but for the help of others or the support of others, we wouldn’t be here today.”

“No one becomes an attorney alone,” he added.

The scholarship will have a minimum of $35,000 over the next six years, accord to USD.

Ferruolo said he hopes the scholarship will grow in coming years to offer more support.

The DACA program itself has an unclear future. The Trump administration moved to end the program last year, but DACA recipients are able to renew their permits as they battle with the federal government in court over the program’s fate.