A proposed bill would make it a crime to aid an illegal immigrant, but Penn officials say they plan to continue disregarding citizenship status in the admissions process for now.
Penn's Dean of Freshmen and advising director Janet Tighe said that since Penn seeks to admit well-rounded students, "it's appropriate that we're not interested in their political status."
But undocumented immigrant students and the children of undocumented immigrants face the harsh realities of their citizenship status each admissions cycle. The college acceptance letters they receive often deny them financial aid services available solely to U.S. citizens.
The issues facing illegal immigrants enrolled at top universities received national attention when Princeton University senior and illegal immigrant Dan-el Padilla Peralta made his status public.
Peralta is attempting to apply for citizenship so that he can take advantage of study options abroad and work opportunities in the United States, he told The Wall Street Journal. Peralta's story illuminates the multitude of problems which illegal immigrants face getting college degrees.
But perhaps most surprising was Princeton's eagerness to admit him without regard to his immigration status, a policy Penn administrators also follow.
The application process itself can be prohibitive for illegal immigrant families. University admissions literature, for example, is published only in English.
If an undocumented student does successfully navigate the admissions process and is accepted to Penn, few resources exist to help pay tuition.
The majority of Penn's financial aid is given to students who are U.S. citizens, and a limited amount of financial aid is awarded to foreign students with the appropriate visas to study in the U.S.
Undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. fall under neither category and must rely on external sources of support.
According to Margaret Porigow, Penn's associate dean of admissions operations -- who said she wasn't aware of any undocumented students currently at Penn -- non-citizens accepted aren't eligible for most of Penn's financial aid programs, since many of them involve government funding.
International students in need of financial aid can choose to vie for limited University funding or seek external sponsors.
In Peralta's case, Princeton helped him find grants that weren't government-funded, according to the Journal article.
Peter Bloom, executive director of the Philadelphia-based Mexican community group Juntos, said that private universities should take the lead in helping undocumented students earn a college degree by providing other funding opportunities, much like Princeton did for Peralta.
Although 10 states have passed legislation granting illegal immigrants in-state tuition rates at state schools, this doesn't apply to private institutions like Penn.
Higher education access for illegal immigrant students has been an issue since 1982, when the Supreme Court ruled that illegal immigrant children were eligible for K-12 public education. If these students don't gain citizenship, their options after high school are limited to illegally seeking work or finding a way to pay for college without government aid.
Congress is currently debating two pieces of legislation that represent opposite takes on the question of undocumented immigrants -- the Dream Act, which would make it easier for young illegal immigrants to become citizens, and the Sensenbrenner-King Bill, which would make it a felony to be an illegal immigrant. The bill would also criminalize providing assistance to illegal immigrants.
College freshman Angela Callado said a friend from high school, who is an illegal immigrant, was forced to reject an offer from Harvard University when she discovered she wasn't eligible for financial aid.
"Education should be free and there should be free access," Callado said. "It's difficult when parents come home and to know that [their child] got into schools and can't go because of the money."
