(Image source from: Newjersey.news12.com)

Philip Dunton Murphy, Governor of New Jersey on Wednesday signed a legislation into law that license students without legal status in the United States to utilize for state financial aid.

It requires the state Higher Education Student Assistance Authority and the Higher Education secretary to set up process to allow students without lawful status to seek financial aid in New Jersey.

Students are eligible if they have attended high school in New Jersey for three or more years and graduated from a high school in the state.

Elizabeth resident Erika Martinez, a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program says, while her DACA status is in limbo at the federal level, she is glad that she will be able to get aid to secure her spot in St. Peter University’s class of 2022.

“I did see the struggles of my sister and my cousin, and I [said] I don’t know if it’s possible for me. I don’t know if it’s affordable,” she further added.

Former Gov. Chris Christie signed legislation in 2013 permitting certain students without legal status to qualify for in-state tuition at New Jersey's public colleges.

Gov. Murphy responded to that view by pointing to the crowd attending the bill signing and saying, “I would invite any of those folks who have that attitude, beginning with our president, to come into this room and allow me or any of us to say, ‘This is the United States of America.”

By Sowmya