Opinion: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed “a law that allows illegal immigrants to attend college for free.”
Republican critics of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the running mate of Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris, have focused on his immigration policies.
“Governor Tim Walz not only signed legislation guaranteeing free college and free healthcare for illegal immigrants, but he also sat idly by and watched Minneapolis burn for four days,” U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., wrote on X on Tuesday.
We examine Walz’s record on health care for people in the country illegally and his response to the unrest following the death of George Floyd in May 2020 in separate fact checks. Here, we looked at whether Walz offered “free college to illegal immigrants.”
In the Republican National Committee’s “X” account, conservative commentator Charlie Kirk and former Deputy Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell made similar claims about college tuition.
In short, Walz signed a scholarship program that covers tuition at Minnesota state colleges and universities for students who meet family income limits. Students who are in the country illegally are eligible for the aid under certain conditions.
The program covers tuition fees at public universities for needy, eligible students.
In May 2023, Walz signed the North Star Promise Scholarship Act.
The program is part of a larger higher education bill and provides scholarships to eligible students whose families earn less than $80,000. The amount of the scholarships varies, and the state pays for what is not covered by grants, student aid, and scholarships.
Students who are eligible for the Minnesota Dream Act can apply for the scholarship. This 2013 law, passed during the administration of Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton, entitles students who have attended a Minnesota high school for at least three years and graduated or received a GED certificate to certain benefits, even if they are in the country illegally. Benefits include access to tuition assistance for in-state students, federal financial aid, and private assistance to attend public colleges and universities in Minnesota.
The scholarship program sponsored by Walz will begin in the 2024-25 school year, “so to date, no Minnesota resident has received funding through the program,” said Keith Hovis, communications director for the State of Minnesota’s Office of Higher Education.
To keep the scholarship, students must meet the GPA standards of their college or university.
In the 2021-22 school year, 314 Minnesota students received financial aid through the Minnesota Dream Act. However, not everyone who is eligible for financial aid qualifies for the scholarship program, Hovis said.
In May, the Minnesota Legislature renewed the scholarship program. The original bill allocated $117 million for the program. The second bill transferred $5 million of that money to another scholarship program for certain students who were in foster care. Eligible students who are in the U.S. illegally are also eligible for the scholarship.
A Republican senator introduced an amendment to limit the scholarship program to students who are legal residents of Minnesota, but the amendment failed on a 34-33 GOP vote with Democrats in the majority.
The Migration Policy Institute, a think tank, estimates that 81,000 people in the U.S. are living illegally in Minnesota. The Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, a left-leaning think tank, reported that immigrants in Minnesota illegally contributed about $222 million to state tax revenues in 2022.
PolitiFact’s verdict
Graham said Walz had “signed a law that allows illegal immigrants to attend college for free.”
Graham’s statement is on the right track, but goes a bit too far.
Walz signed two higher education bills in 2023 and 2024 that would cover tuition at Minnesota’s public colleges and universities for students whose families earn less than $80,000 a year.
Students who are in the United States illegally can apply for this financial aid if they have attended a school in Minnesota for at least three years, graduated from there or received a GED certificate, and met other requirements regarding income and maintaining their school’s grade point average.
We consider Graham’s statement to be largely accurate.
Our sources
- Senator Lindsey Graham, Post, August 6, 2024
- RNC Research, article, August 6, 2024
- Charlie Kirk, article, August 6, 2024
- Richard Grenell, article, August 6, 2024
- Minnesota Office of Higher Education, Minnesota Dream Act, accessed August 9, 2024
- Minnesota Office of Higher Education, Minnesota Dream Act Fact Sheet, accessed August 9, 2024
- Minnesota House of Representatives, Higher Education: OHE Policy Act, May 15, 2024
- Minnesota Office of Higher Education, Fostering Independence Higher Education Grants, accessed August 9, 2024
- Minnesota Senate Republican Caucus, “Higher Education Bill Should Do More for Minnesota Students,” accessed August 9, 2024
- Minnesota Senate, Senate Session – 04/15/24, April 15, 2024
- Migration Policy Institute, Profile of the Unauthorized Population: Minnesota, accessed August 9, 2024
- Institute for Taxes and Economic Policy, Tax payments by undocumented immigrants, July 30, 2024
- Email exchange, Keith Hovis, Director of Communications, Minnesota Office of Higher Education, August 6, 2024
