Brandon Bell
News Editor
The College has established a new fund intended to provide financial support to students whose immigration status makes it difficult to continue to pay Wooster’s comprehensive fee.
The fund, which was made possible by a $150,000 donation from trustees Richard Bell ’63 and Toni Clark, was established to be discretionary, meaning it would be assigned to students in need on a case-by-case basis by President Sarah Bolton.
According to Bolton, while the fund is available for immigrant students in a wide variety of circumstances, discussions about the fund began in the fall. A major concern at this time was that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program — which allows certain immigrants who entered the United States as children without documentation to remain in the country, work and enroll in college — would end.
“We were all committed to ensuring that our students could continue their education at Wooster, and Mr. Bell and Ms. Clark made clear their strong commitment to helping make that possible financially,” Bolton said. “I am working with those who support students directly in [the Center for Diversity and Inclusion] and the Dean of Students office to be sure students who may have need are aware of the fund and that we can be in contact as needs arise.”
Bolton said that students experiencing a change in immigration status, including students who may lose DACA status, would be most affected by losing the right to legally work in the United States.
For this reason, Bolton said, the program would be intended to support students throughout their time at the College and would provide a flexible amount that could be adjusted if financial or economic conditions changed.
“The support given out to students [from this fund] is not fixed or determined by a formula … [W]e anticipated that the funds would need to be at least sufficient to make up for what the student loses in earnings if they are no longer eligible to work,” Bolton said. “Funds would normally be provided to cover that gap throughout their time at the College, and the amount could be adjusted as needs changed for various reasons.”
With the current $150,000 amount, Bolton expects that the fund will last for at least four years.
While acknowledging that the uncertainty of immigration law made it difficult to predict the actual longevity of the fund, she said that she was confident that it could be sustained through fundraising.
“Fundraising for student scholarships and needs is one of the top priorities of my work and that of our advancement team,” Bolton said, referring to a team of administrators overseeing the College’s fundraising and outreach activities. “Certainly, we would continue to seek funding if it were needed.”
The fund is being made available to immigrant students now. Bell and Clark’s donation to support this latest effort is only their latest gift to the College. Both also contributed $5 million of the $40 million donated in 2015 for the construction of the Ruth W. Williams Hall of Life Science, a project that is still ongoing.
Bell and Clark’s $150,000 gift to support the new fund was received in mid-January after discussions with Bolton and other members of the administration. The fund joins 600 other scholarships that are supported by alumni gifts coordinated by the College’s office of advancement.