We appeal to all faith leaders, elected officials, labor unions, business leaders, fellow students and every New Yorker to ask Governor Andrew Cuomo to put funding for the New York State DREAM Act in the budget. The New York State DREAM Act provides tuition assistance to undocumented students, a benefit already available in Texas, California, New Mexico and Washington State. Governor Cuomo is just weeks away from releasing his 2016–2017 fiscal budget. By including the Dream Act funding in his budget, thereby extending eligibility for the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) to undocumented college students at public institutions of higher education in New York State. He would be making higher education affordable for thousands of academically qualified undocumented students. 

The arguments for the New York State DREAM Act are clear.  According to the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC), the cost of extending eligibility for State financial aid to undocumented students is less than two percent of the total TAP budget – a small price to pay for giving more than 8,000 undocumented students a chance to go to college, graduate and continue contributing to the betterment of our state.

In Addition, the Fiscal Policy Institute found that the New York State DREAM Act will cost typical taxpayers less than the price of a doughnut, and that the tax revenue alone generated by undocumented immigrants would cover more than the increase in TAP costs. According to the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, the state earned more than $662 million in revenue from undocumented immigrants in 2010, proving that undocumented immigrants truly are an important source of economic growth for the state.

We ask all New York citizens to urge Governor Cuomo to include the New York State DREAM Act in the 2016 – 2017 Fiscal budget. Let us work together to tell Governor Andrew Cuomo that the New York DREAM Act is important to all New Yorkers. The New York State DREAM Act is a smart investment for the state of New York that would ensure that no student will be relegated to the margins of society because he or she is unable to obtain economic opportunity that higher education provides.

Please, share this petition widely with the hashtag, #NYSDreamAct 

Petition Sponsors: Hispanic Federation, Make The Road New York, New York Immigration Coalition, Long Island Jobs with Justice, Professional Staff Congress (AFT Local 2334), Jaime Lucero Mexican Studies Institute at CUNY, MinKwon Center for Community Action, United Neighborhood Houses, NYS Interfaith Network for Immigration Reform, Young Invincibles, University Student Senate (USS), Long Island Wins, Internationals Network for Public Schools, Chinese Progressive Association, Voices Out of Silence, CUNY DREAMers and SUNY DREAMers.