Haas Fund aids undocumented Cal students

Ju Hong, UC Berkeley senior, walks on campus at
UC Berkeley, on Thursday, December 13, 2012.

As UC Berkeley held fall semester finals this week, senior Ju Hong was putting the finishing touches on the last paper of an undergraduate career he was barely able to afford.

As an undocumented immigrant from South Korea, Hong had to take whatever jobs would pay him under the table in order to raise tuition money. He lived with his mother and sister in a one-bedroom apartment in Alameda that the family struggled to pay for.

This past year was easier than the others, however, thanks to the October 2011 passage of the California Dream Act, which paved the way for undocumented immigrant students who were brought to the United States when they were under 16 to receive private scholarships. Hong was able to pay his tuition this fall with an individual grant from the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund.

"Because of the Haas scholarship, I had the privilege of attending a top university without having to worry about financial burdens," said Hong, who is graduating with a degree in political science.

In an effort to support more UC Berkeley students like Hong, the Haas Jr. Fund gave $1 million to the campus this week to fund scholarships for its more than 200 undocumented students, the largest donation of its kind at universities across the nation.

Although the California Dream Act allows undocumented students at public universities to receive state-funded financial aid, the students remain ineligible for federal aid, a gap that the new scholarships are meant to help close.

Financial hardship

The campus already distributes $1 million in privately funded scholarships to undocumented students. Beginning next fall, students will be eligible for $4,000 to $6,000 scholarships over the next five years from the Haas Jr. Fund.

Undocumented students come in to Berkeley with enormous financial hardships and no access to federal financial aid, federal loans or work-study jobs, said Meng So, coordinator for UC Berkeley's Undocumented Student Program.

"It's going to have a monumental effect, and that's an understatement," So said of the Haas Jr. Fund's money. "These students don't qualify for school housing or dining programs, so they have to think about where they're going to live, what they're going to eat. The gift from the Haas Jr. Fund will help alleviate those costs."

Prompting others

By itself, the $1 million gift won't be enough to support all UC Berkeley's undocumented students, but the Haas Jr. Fund hopes the donation will prompt others to come up with money, said the group's president, Ira Hirschfield.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau said the campus received two additional donations in the days after the fund's announcement, one for $200,000 and one for $100,000.

"I'm excited about the donations and believe that more will undoubtedly come because the Haas Fund has broken through the barrier," said Birgeneau, who made members of the Haas family aware of the plight of undocumented students at Berkeley by bringing them together at a dinner in February.

In a separate donation, Elise Haas, granddaughter of Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr., gave the campus $300,000 to fund support services for undocumented students.

Berkeley is becoming a destination of choice for undocumented students, said Kathy Gin, co-founder of Educators for Fair Consideration, a nonprofit in San Francisco that provides undocumented students with academic, financial and legal support.

"The financial component is extremely important," Gin said, "but students on the Berkeley campus realize how important it is to have those support services, helping them connect to resources on campus and outside. There hasn't been another school so far that has really recognized that."

Coming to U.S.

Hong was brought to this country as a young child 13 years ago by his mother, who arranged a flight to the United States on a tourist visa with no return trip planned. He intends to use his UC Berkeley education to help immigrants who are in his situation: He's been accepted into the master's program in public administration at San Francisco State University and hopes to work in the nonprofit sector to improve support services for undocumented students.

Eventually, he intends to go to law school to become an immigrant rights attorney.

"I don't want people to have to live in fear like my mother, sister and I had to," Hong said. "I've overcome these fears by getting support from community members and organizations supporting me, and I want to do the same for others."

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