Hampshire College Offers Illegal Immigrant Scholarship

A small liberal arts college in western Massachusetts is offering a new scholarship to illegal immigrants.

Hampshire College officials say the endowment and scholarship will finance one student's education every four years. The student will get at least $25,000 in scholarship annually, beginning this fall.

College spokeswoman Elaine Thomas on Thursday declined to identify this year's recipient, citing federal student privacy rules.

An estimated 65,000 illegal immigrants graduate from American high schools each year. Five to 10 percent of them apply for college.

The admission of illegal immigrants into U.S. colleges does not violate federal or state laws.

Eva Millona of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition says this is the first instance she's heard of a Massachusetts college offering a scholarship specifically for illegal immigrants.