United States General Accounting Office

GAO Report to Congressional Requesters

November 1995 HIGHER EDUCATION

Selected Information

on Student Financial

Aid Received by Legal

Immigrants

GAO/HEHS-96-7

GAO United States

General Accounting Office

Washington, D.C. 20548

Health, Education, and

Human Services Division

B-266308 

November 24, 1995

The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy

Ranking Minority Member

Committee on Labor and Human Resources

United States Senate

The Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

House of Representatives

Over the past year, the Congress has considered a variety of proposals to

reform the nation’s welfare system. At least two of these proposals would

restrict legal immigrants’1

 eligibility for any federal means-tested public

benefits programs, including student financial aid programs at colleges,

universities, and other postsecondary schools.2

 To assist you in evaluating

the effects of such proposals, you asked us to gather information on

(1) the number of legal immigrants that received student financial aid and

the amount of aid they received, (2) the states in which they lived, and

(3) the types of schools they attended.

To develop this information, we focused our work on Pell grants and

Stafford loans, which together accounted for about 85 percent of federal

aid to students at postsecondary institutions under title IV of the Higher

Education Act of 1965, as amended, during academic year 1992-93. We

analyzed Department of Education recipient files for academic year

1992-93, the most recent year for which complete data were available. We

performed our work between April and October 1995 in accordance with

generally accepted government auditing standards. (See app. I for details

of our scope and methodology.)

Results in Brief According to Department of Education records, about 390,000 legal

immigrant students received Pell grant aid in academic year 1992-93. This

was about 10 percent of all students receiving Pell grants. In total,

immigrants received $662 million, or about 11 percent, of Pell grant aid in

that year. We were unable to determine the total number of legal

immigrants who received Stafford loans because citizenship data are not

1

“Legal immigrant” is a term used to refer to lawful, permanent residents of the United States or other

legally admitted immigrants under certain other U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)

designations.

2

One proposal would require that the income and resources of immigrant students include that of their

sponsors. Another proposal would limit eligibility to those who had also fulfilled certain residency

requirements and filed a naturalization application, or who were veterans or on active military duty.

Page 1 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
B-266308 

maintained in the Department of Education’s loan files. However, some

immigrants who received Pell grants also received Stafford loans that

totaled $257 million.

About 82 percent of the immigrants who received student financial aid

lived in seven states, led by California with 31 percent and New York with

25 percent. Sixty-one percent attended public colleges, 19 percent

attended private colleges, and 21 percent attended proprietary (for-profit

vocational) schools. The 100 schools with the most immigrant Pell grant

recipients accounted for about 50 percent of all such students, and 91 of

these schools were located in the seven states with the highest

concentration of immigrant students.

Background Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, provides an

array of student financial aid programs, including grants, loans, and

work-study support, to students pursuing a postsecondary education.

Legal immigrants may receive aid through some or all of these programs,

depending on the cost of the education they are obtaining and the size of

their family income. By far, the two largest programs are Pell grants and

Stafford loans.

• Pell grants, available only to undergraduate students, are designed to help

the neediest students and are the first source of title IV aid. A student must

apply for a Pell grant to ascertain Pell eligibility before student financial

aid from other programs can be determined. Grants need not be repaid,

and the maximum Pell grant award amount in academic year 1992-93 was

$2,400.

• Stafford loans are available to undergraduate and graduate students.

Stafford loans may be either government subsidized or unsubsidized,

depending on the results of the student’s means test. For subsidized loans,

the federal government pays the interest on the loan while the student is in

school. The student repays the principal and interest on both kinds of

Stafford loans after leaving school. In addition, the government also

guarantees both kinds of Stafford loans if the borrower defaults.3

To be eligible for federal student aid, a student must be either a U.S.

citizen or an “eligible noncitizen.” Legal immigrants are included in the

definition of eligible noncitizens. More specifically, the Department of

Education groups noncitizens into three categories:

3

The maximum loan amount varies and depends, in part, on the number of academic years a student

has completed. However, the maximum amount of Stafford loans that individual undergraduates and

graduates could have outstanding for academic year 1992-93 was $17,250 and $54,750, respectively.

Page 2 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
B-266308 

• lawful permanent residents (who have an Alien Registration Receipt

Card);

• U.S. nationals (natives of American Samoa or Swain’s Island); and

• holders of an Arrival-Departure Record from the INS showing one of the

following designations: refugee, asylum granted, indefinite parole and/or

humanitarian parole, Cuban-Haitian entrant with status pending,

conditional entrant (if issued before April 1, 1980), or other eligible

noncitizen with a Temporary Resident Card.

Permanent residents of the Republic of Palau may be eligible for all

federal student financial aid. However, citizens of the Federated States of

Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands are eligible for Pell

grants but not for Stafford loans. Holders of foreign-student or

exchange-visitor visas and those with visas pertaining to international

organizations are ineligible to receive federal student aid.

The current congressional debate about reforming the welfare system

involves H.R. 4, the proposed Personal Responsibility Act of 1995, which

was introduced in March 1995. If enacted, it would restrict legal

immigrants’ eligibility for any federal means-tested public benefits

program, such as title IV financial aid programs. The proposed law would

require that the income of the sponsor4

 and the income of the spouse of an

immigrant who meets one of these criteria be included in determining the

eligibility of students for program benefits.

Immigrants Were 10

Percent of All Pell

Grant Recipients, and

Many Also Received

Stafford Loans

Legal immigrants constituted about 10 percent of the 4 million Pell grant

recipients in academic year 1992-93 (see fig. 1), and they received about 11

percent ($662 million) of the total Pell grant aid ($6.2 billion) in that year.

4

Some legal immigrants are admitted into the country under the financial sponsorship of a U.S.

resident.

Page 3 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
B-266308 

Figure 1: Composition of Pell Grant

Recipients, Academic Year 1992-93

10% • Immigrants (390,088)

90%•

Citizens (3.6 million)

Because Stafford loan files do not include data on citizenship, we were

unable to determine how many legal immigrants received Stafford loans.

To provide some indication of the extent of legal immigrants’ participation

in the Stafford program, we determined how many of the legal immigrants

who received a Pell grant in academic year 1992-93 also received a

Stafford loan. In all, 107,381 of the 390,088 legal immigrants receiving a

Pell grant also received a Stafford loan. This figure represented 5 percent

of the nearly 2 million students in all who received both forms of aid (see

fig. 2). Stafford loan aid to these immigrants totaled about $257 million, or

about 6 percent of all Stafford loans ($4.5 billion) made to all Pell grant

recipients.

Page 4 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
B-266308 

Figure 2: Composition of Pell Grant

Recipients Who Also Received a

Stafford Loan, Academic Year 1992-93

• 5%

Immigrants (107,381)

95%•

Citizens (1.9 million)

Compared with citizens, immigrants received, on average, slightly larger

Pell grants. As shown in figure 3, the average Pell grant for immigrants was

$1,697—10 percent larger than the $1,526 awarded to citizens. When

immigrants who received Pell grants also received Stafford loans, their

loans were similarly somewhat larger than citizens’ loans. The average

Stafford loan for immigrants with Pell grants was $2,391, 4 percent more

than the $2,297 for citizens.

Page 5 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
B-266308 

Figure 3: Average Pell Grant Amounts

and Average Stafford Loan Amounts

for Pell Grant Recipients, Academic

Year 1992-93

Dollars

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Average Pell

Grant Amount

Average

Stafford Loan

Amount

1526

1697

2297

2391

Citizens

Immigrants

Most Immigrant

Students Lived in

Seven States

About 82 percent of immigrant students who received Pell grants in

academic year 1992-93 were concentrated in seven states: California,

Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Texas. In

contrast, schools in these states accounted for about 38 percent of all Pell

grant recipients. Not surprisingly, the two states with the largest

populations of legal immigrants—California and New York—accounted for

56 percent of immigrant students and about 57 percent of Pell grant

funding for these students (see table 1). For information on all 50 states,

see appendixes II and III.

Page 6 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
B-266308 

Table 1: Immigrant Pell Grant

Recipients—and Aid Amounts—for

Selected States of Residence,

Academic Year 1992-93

Immigrant Pell grant

recipients

Pell grant aid to immigrants

State Number Percent

Amount (in

millions) Percent

California 120,488 31 $196.4 30

New York 96,273 25 180.3 27

Florida 30,199 8 49.0 7

Texas 25,997 7 40.5 6

New Jersey 15,723 4 26.3 4

Illinois 14,867 4 24.0 4

Massachusetts 10,044 3 17.4 3

Total 313,591 82 $533.9 81

Most Immigrant

Students Attended

Public Colleges or

Universities

The majority of immigrant Pell grant recipients—61 percent—attended

public colleges or universities (see fig. 4). This is about triple the number

that attended private colleges or universities (19 percent) or proprietary

schools (21 percent). Appendix IV contains state-by-state information on

the type of school immigrants were enrolled in during academic year

1992-93.

Page 7 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
B-266308 

Figure 4: Immigrant Pell Grant

Recipients by School Type, Academic

Year 1992-93

31% • Public, 2-Year

30% • Public, 4-Year or More

•

4%

Private, 2-Year

15%•

Private, 4-Year or More

•21%

Proprietary

Note: Percentages do not total 100 because of rounding.

100 Schools Accounted for

50 Percent of Immigrant

Students

A school-by-school analysis showed that 100 schools accounted for about

50 percent (194,295) of the 390,088 immigrant Pell grant recipients and

about 50 percent ($332 million) of the $662 million in Pell grant funds

awarded to immigrants in academic year 1992-93. Most of these schools

(91) were in the seven states where most of the immigrant recipients lived,

and 68 schools were in California and New York (see table 2). Appendix V

contains information on all 100 schools.

Page 8 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
B-266308 

Table 2: The 100 Schools With the

Most Immigrant Pell Grant Recipients,

by State, Academic Year 1992-93

State

Number of

schools in the top

100

Number of

immigrant Pell

grant recipients

Amount of Pell

grant aid to

immigrants (in

millions)

California 48 71,268 $116.7

New York 20 74,764 139.8

New Jersey 6 6,716 10.6

Florida 5 13,664 20.8

Texas 5 9,948 14.8

Illinois 4 5,888 8.8

Massachusetts 3 2,660 4.6

Maryland 2 2,240 3.8

Pennsylvania 1 1,388 2.2

Virginia 1 1,224 2.0

Indiana 1 1,099 1.8

Oregon 1 977 1.5

Washington 1 917 1.7

Minnesota 1 778 1.5

Ohio 1 764 1.0

Total 100 194,295 $331.7a

aNumbers do not add to total because of rounding.

Agency Comments The Department of Education was provided a draft of this report to review

and had no comments.

We are sending copies of this report to the Chairman of the Senate

Committee on Labor and Human Resources, the Chairman of the House

Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities, the Secretary of

Education, and other interested parties.

Page 9 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
B-266308 

Please call me at (202) 512-7014 if you or your staff have any questions

about this report. Major contributors included Joseph J. Eglin, Jr.,

Assistant Director; Paula N. Barnes; Scott M. Berger; Charles M. Novak;

Meeta Sharma; Edward H. Tuchman; and Dianne L. Whitman.

Sincerely yours,

Cornelia M. Blanchette

Associate Director, Education

 and Employment Issues

Page 10 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
Page 11 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
Contents

Letter 1

Appendix I 

Scope and

Methodology

14

Appendix II 

Immigrant Students

Receiving Pell Grants,

by Residence,

Academic Year

1992-93

16

Appendix III 

Pell Grant Aid to

Immigrant Students,

by Residence,

Academic Year

1992-93

18

Appendix IV 

Immigrant Pell Grant

Recipients, by

Residence and School

Type, Academic Year

1992-93

20

Page 12 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
Contents

Appendix V 

The 100 Schools With

the Most Immigrant

Pell Grant Recipients,

by State, Academic

Year 1992-93

22

Tables Table 1: Immigrant Pell Grant Recipients—and Aid Amounts—for

Selected States of Residence, Academic Year 1992-93

7

Table 2: The 100 Schools With the Most Immigrant Pell Grant

Recipients, by State, Academic Year 1992-93

9

Figures Figure 1: Composition of Pell Grant Recipients, Academic Year

1992-93

4

Figure 2: Composition of Pell Grant Recipients Who Also

Received a Stafford Loan, Academic Year 1992-93

5

Figure 3: Average Pell Grant Amounts and Average Stafford Loan

Amounts for Pell Grant Recipients, Academic Year 1992-93

6

Figure 4: Immigrant Pell Grant Recipients by School Type,

Academic Year 1992-93

8

Abbreviations

IDS Institutional Data System

INS Immigration and Naturalization Service

Page 13 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
Appendix I 

Scope and Methodology

We contacted officials at and reviewed documents from the Department of

Education and INS to obtain information on immigration designations and

eligibility criteria for federal student aid. We focused our analysis on the

Pell grant and Stafford loan programs because they are the largest of the

title IV programs, accounting for about 85 percent of all federal aid to

students at postsecondary institutions.

To determine the number of legal immigrant students, the amount of aid

they received, their place of residence, and the types of schools they

attended, we obtained and analyzed three Department of Education

databases: the Pell Grant Recipient File, the Stafford Loan File, and the

Institutional Data System (IDS). We used the 1992-93 academic year as a

base year for our analyses because it was the most recent year for which

data were available for Pell grant recipients. We did not verify the data

obtained from the Department of Education.

We determined who received a Pell grant, the grant amount, and the

recipient’s place of residence by performing special computer runs for all

Pell Grant Recipient File records for academic year 1992-93. To distinguish

immigrants from citizens, we reviewed grant records for codes that related

to citizenship. We extracted grant records that had codes of “P,” for

permanent resident or other eligible noncitizen. The remaining records fell

into two categories: those that had codes for other classifications of

immigration and citizenship, such as U.S. citizen, and those that were

missing codes.

Because they are not U.S. citizens, the permanent residents of Palau and

the citizens of the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia

were included in the “P” category with other permanent residents and

eligible noncitizens. However, the residents of these territories are treated

as U.S. citizens for eligibility for student financial aid under title IV. The

numbers of such students were small, and we did not determine how many

of them were actually included as legal immigrants.

In identifying an immigrant student’s place of residence, the Pell Grant

Recipient File listed all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories

and commonwealths, and some foreign countries. While individuals

holding foreign-student visas are ineligible for student aid, our analyses

identified some immigrant Pell grant recipients residing in Canada and

Mexico. A representative at the Department of Education’s Federal

Student Aid Information Center said that legal immigrants with a valid

Page 14 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
Appendix I 

Scope and Methodology

alien registration number may claim a foreign residence and still receive

student aid.

We could not determine the number of immigrants who received Stafford

loans or the amounts of such loans because, unlike the Pell Grant

Recipient Files, Stafford Loan Files do not identify students’ citizenship

status. However, we were able to estimate the extent that legal immigrants

who had received a Pell grant participated in the Stafford loan program.

We performed computer matches between the loan and grant files to

identify immigrant/citizen Pell grant recipients for whom there was a

corresponding Stafford loan record.

While the Pell grant files contained an institution number to identify the

students’ schools (reporting campuses), the number did not indicate the

type of school or the length of academic program. This information is

contained in IDS. To determine the types of schools attended by

immigrants, we performed computer matches of Pell Grant Recipient Files

and IDS. To identify the 100 schools with the most immigrant Pell grant

recipients, we matched Pell Grant Recipient Files with IDS, sorted on the

number of immigrant Pell grant records, and extracted the 100 schools

with the most records. For each of these schools, we then used IDS to

identify school name, location, and type.

Page 15 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
Appendix II 

Immigrant Students Receiving Pell Grants,

by Residence, Academic Year 1992-93

Place of residence

Total number of

students

receiving Pell

grants

Number of

immigrants

receiving Pell

grants

Immigrants as a

percentage of

total students

California 369,078 120,488 32.6

New York 363,698 96,273 26.5

Florida 189,684 30,199 15.9

Texas 264,827 25,997 9.8

New Jersey 82,344 15,723 19.1

Illinois 167,261 14,867 8.9

Massachusetts 72,965 10,044 13.8

Pennsylvania 157,076 6,354 4.0

Maryland 54,342 6,332 11.7

Washington 66,119 5,523 8.4

Arizona 68,628 5,114 7.5

Virginia 74,422 4,259 5.7

Minnesota 80,906 4,162 5.1

Michigan 162,845 3,928 2.4

Ohio 171,999 3,132 1.8

Georgia 89,939 2,814 3.1

Oregon 46,115 2,616 5.7

Connecticut 25,864 2,569 9.9

Puerto Rico 178,845 2,504 1.4

Louisiana 85,208 2,061 2.4

Colorado 58,508 1,986 3.4

Wisconsin 72,039 1,972 2.7

Federated States of

Micronesia 1,446 1,394 96.4

Missouri 84,999 1,381 1.6

Rhode Island 13,568 1,320 9.7

Utah 46,518 1,233 2.7

Indiana 82,690 1,199 1.4

North Carolina 78,056 1,170 1.5

Kansas 46,370 1,157 2.5

Oklahoma 68,981 1,140 1.7

New Mexico 35,358 1,028 2.9

Hawaii 7,248 861 11.9

Iowa 54,676 838 1.5

Tennessee 72,722 789 1.1

Nevada 12,763 632 5.0

(continued)

Page 16 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
Appendix II 

Immigrant Students Receiving Pell Grants,

by Residence, Academic Year 1992-93

Place of residence

Total number of

students

receiving Pell

grants

Number of

immigrants

receiving Pell

grants

Immigrants as a

percentage of

total students

District of Columbia 6,825 623 9.1

Alabama 75,353 577 0.8

Palau 625 559 89.4

Nebraska 32,535 530 1.6

South Carolina 53,587 503 0.9

Kentucky 65,226 476 0.7

Marshall Islands 480 458 95.4

Mississippi 56,101 303 0.5

Idaho 20,010 302 1.5

Arkansas 40,832 239 0.6

New Hampshire 11,327 238 2.1

Guam 716 210 29.3

Virgin Islands 1,193 205 17.2

Delaware 5,938 198 3.3

Maine 16,675 194 1.2

Vermont 7,958 125 1.6

Alaska 5,382 111 2.1

North Dakota 16,241 110 0.7

Montana 18,796 109 0.6

Northern Mariana Islands 291 101 34.7

South Dakota 15,993 101 0.6

West Virginia 27,242 88 0.3

Wyoming 9,136 56 0.6

Canada 152 13 8.6

American Samoa 358 9 2.5

Mexico 36 2 5.6

Unknown 6,674 589 8.8

Total 4,003,789 390,088 9.7

Page 17 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
Appendix III 

Pell Grant Aid to Immigrant Students, by

Residence, Academic Year 1992-93

Place of residence Total amount of Pell aid Pell aid to immigrants

Immigrant aid as a

percentage of total aid

California $571,451,865 $196,379,734 34.37

New York 618,689,155 180,256,192 29.14

Florida 281,217,211 48,950,285 17.41

Texas 381,284,327 40,542,503 10.63

New Jersey 130,423,209 26,256,014 20.13

Illinois 248,038,034 24,035,028 9.69

Massachusetts 115,089,841 17,372,496 15.09

Pennsylvania 241,090,708 11,409,492 4.73

Maryland 82,699,388 10,217,093 12.35

Washington 102,341,512 8,949,752 8.74

Arizona 103,982,091 8,232,004 7.92

Minnesota 122,904,536 7,510,396 6.11

Virginia 110,142,667 7,191,957 6.53

Michigan 240,149,242 6,461,829 2.69

Ohio 260,292,138 5,133,902 1.97

Puerto Rico 330,111,006 4,768,617 1.44

Georgia 129,953,161 4,768,440 3.67

Oregon 71,678,490 4,538,252 6.33

Connecticut 38,345,381 4,084,980 10.65

Louisiana 137,999,395 3,579,698 2.59

Wisconsin 109,815,251 3,544,983 3.23

Colorado 90,341,222 3,419,296 3.78

Missouri 127,071,663 2,229,862 1.75

Federated States of Micronesia 2,223,506 2,150,659 96.72

Utah 73,045,862 2,076,392 2.84

Indiana 122,803,517 2,073,752 1.69

Rhode Island 20,471,278 2,062,157 10.07

Oklahoma 105,206,616 1,916,727 1.82

Kansas 69,242,505 1,900,116 2.74

North Carolina 108,680,482 1,793,459 1.65

New Mexico 53,846,353 1,675,548 3.11

Iowa 82,505,545 1,518,852 1.84

Tennessee 109,280,036 1,335,564 1.22

Hawaii 10,470,576 1,230,271 11.75

District of Columbia 10,748,173 1,070,014 9.96

Nevada 19,126,887 1,041,860 5.45

Palau 1,051,392 958,240 91.14

(continued)

Page 18 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
Appendix III 

Pell Grant Aid to Immigrant Students, by

Residence, Academic Year 1992-93

Place of residence Total amount of Pell aid Pell aid to immigrants

Immigrant aid as a

percentage of total aid

Alabama 107,491,919 954,682 0.89

Kentucky 100,087,643 774,063 0.77

Nebraska 46,930,957 760,225 1.62

South Carolina 75,740,594 709,569 0.94

Marshall Islands 696,963 670,097 96.15

Idaho 32,474,909 547,483 1.69

Mississippi 87,792,036 538,754 0.61

Arkansas 63,461,252 389,706 0.61

New Hampshire 17,542,398 383,906 2.19

Virgin Islands 1,958,649 351,423 17.94

Guam 1,062,689 348,074 32.75

Maine 25,962,382 308,632 1.19

Delaware 8,233,359 303,013 3.68

Alaska 8,726,817 200,824 2.30

North Dakota 26,498,533 199,157 0.75

Vermont 11,740,161 197,066 1.68

Montana 30,801,463 193,335 0.63

South Dakota 25,291,314 165,737 0.66

West Virginia 43,212,893 160,783 0.37

Northern Mariana Islands 416,620 151,053 36.26

Wyoming 13,924,380 96,326 0.69

Canada 259,267 23,200 8.95

American Samoa 502,453 11,817 2.35

Mexico 63,790 3,165 4.96

Unknown 10,367,216 1,089,796 10.51

Total $6,175,054,878 $662,168,302 10.72

Page 19 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
Appendix IV 

Immigrant Pell Grant Recipients, by

Residence and School Type, Academic Year

1992-93

Public schools Private schools

Place of residence ≤2 yrs. ≥4 yrs. ≤2 yrs. ≥4 yrs.

Proprietary

schools

Total immigrant

recipients

California 39,995 25,130 4,160 3,450 32,894 105,629

New York 3,740 39,349 4,574 29,647 13,456 90,766

Florida 13,821 3,127 613 1,564 8,881 28,006

Texas 10,806 5,984 221 792 5,305 23,108

Illinois 4,285 3,227 926 2,767 2,158 13,363

New Jersey 5,662 3,925 1,224 996 1,520 13,327

Massachusetts 4,497 1,980 518 3,044 518 10,557

Pennsylvania 2,211 1,503 100 1,382 818 6,014

Maryland 3,212 1,494 4 369 519 5,598

Washington 3,467 1,307 6 263 233 5,276

Arizona 2,338 901 29 32 1,155 4,455

Virginia 1,722 1,366 7 229 867 4,191

Minnesota 2,204 1,214 50 461 128 4,057

Michigan 1,743 1,328 19 713 217 4,020

Ohio 1,308 1,246 13 422 250 3,239

Georgia 555 979 18 364 881 2,797

Oregon 1,388 916 16 120 72 2,512

Indiana 348 750 3 185 1,110 2,396

Connecticut 604 490 20 520 602 2,236

Wisconsin 708 1,004 0 320 33 2,065

Colorado 714 971 1 136 201 2,023

Louisiana 387 1,005 4 223 398 2,017

Puerto Rico 12 168 315 901 596 1,992

Rhode Island 489 346 103 352 167 1,457

Missouri 227 315 340 350 156 1,388

Kansas 355 478 411 62 45 1,351

District of Columbia 0 210 2 551 564 1,327

North Carolina 355 573 26 245 30 1,229

Utah 402 517 22 233 42 1,216

Oklahoma 355 446 4 125 81 1,011

Trust Territories 953 0 0 0 0 953

Iowa 330 326 6 221 31 914

Tennessee 200 364 2 199 149 914

New Mexico 209 599 0 14 86 908

Hawaii 368 212 0 143 109 832

Alabama 191 361 0 140 12 704

Nebraska 246 214 0 47 15 522

(continued)

Page 20 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
Appendix IV 

Immigrant Pell Grant Recipients, by

Residence and School Type, Academic Year

1992-93

Public schools Private schools

Place of residence ≤2 yrs. ≥4 yrs. ≤2 yrs. ≥4 yrs.

Proprietary

schools

Total immigrant

recipients

Kentucky 9 396 1 39 38 483

Nevada 105 188 0 3 149 445

South Carolina 227 131 0 55 25 438

Guam 33 321 0 0 0 354

Idaho 61 194 49 9 8 321

Mississippi 110 116 8 32 9 275

New Hampshire 37 60 3 112 56 268

Arkansas 51 151 1 26 18 247

Delaware 85 96 0 17 15 213

Maine 20 105 1 49 23 198

South Dakota 8 62 6 18 74 168

West Virginia 4 93 0 41 23 161

Vermont 31 47 1 76 4 159

Alaska 0 77 0 2 46 125

Virgin Islands 0 117 0 0 0 117

North Dakota 16 81 1 12 4 114

Montana 24 74 0 10 1 109

Wyoming 28 20 0 0 45 93

American Samoa 8 0 0 0 0 8

Total 111,264 106,654 13,828 52,083 74,837 358,666a

Percentage of total 31.0 29.7 3.9 14.5 20.9 100

aWhen matching the Pell Grant Recipient File with IDS, no match occurred for 31,422 students.

Therefore, the total number of immigrant Pell grant recipients shown by school type is less than

the total number of immigrant Pell grant recipients shown in appendix II.

Page 21 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
Appendix V 

The 100 Schools With the Most Immigrant

Pell Grant Recipients, by State, Academic

Year 1992-93

Public schools

Private

schools

School

≤ 2

yrs.

≥ 4

yrs.

≤ 2

yrs.

≥ 4

yrs.

Proprietary

schools

Immigrant Pell

recipients

Immigrant Pell

aid

Immigrants as %

of all Pell aid

California (48 schools)

Glendale Community

College

x

2,055 $2,090,734 78.6

San Francisco Community

College District

x

1,774 1,949,721 58.0

Los Angeles City College x 1,766 2,551,537 74.1

Pasadena City College x 1,538 1,576,892 55.6

Long Beach City College x 1,475 1,675,487 34.4

Golden West College x 1,343 1,513,449 66.5

De Anza College x 1,316 1,537,060 67.3

Orange Coast College x 1,263 1,481,988 58.3

Evergreen Valley College x 1,178 1,286,544 70.9

Rancho Santiago College x 1,133 1,282,432 64.7

Imperial Valley College x 1,125 1,169,792 55.0

Fresno City College x 1,000 1,100,420 27.3

San Diego City College x 950 1,238,721 36.7

San Jose City College x 905 942,498 59.4

San Joaquin Delta College x 863 860,207 31.3

East Los Angeles College x 839 1,002,304 49.9

Sacramento City College x 792 862,723 44.3

San Diego Mesa College x 712 864,416 40.1

Mission College x 710 857,679 73.4

Associated Technical

College

x

696 1,586,975 21.1

Laney College x 671 794,025 40.7

University of California, Los

Angeles

x

2,243 4,347,706 35.3

California State University,

Los Angeles

x

1,922 3,209,626 40.1

San Jose State University x 1,810 3,450,320 38.5

University of California,

Berkeley

x

1,670 2,965,372 30.2

California State University,

Northridge

x

1,629 2,959,889 31.8

University of California,

Irvine

x

1,497 2,978,787 43.6

California State Polytechnic

University, Pomona

x

1,404 2,520,886 40.8

(continued)

Page 22 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
Appendix V 

The 100 Schools With the Most Immigrant

Pell Grant Recipients, by State, Academic

Year 1992-93

Public schools

Private

schools

School

≤ 2

yrs.

≥ 4

yrs.

≤ 2

yrs.

≥ 4

yrs.

Proprietary

schools

Immigrant Pell

recipients

Immigrant Pell

aid

Immigrants as %

of all Pell aid

University of California,

Davis

x

1,306 2,613,596 30.6

San Francisco State

University

x

1,277 2,237,823 27.4

California State University,

Long Beach

x

1,240 2,186,533 24.7

California State University,

Fresno

x

1,147 2,196,436 26.7

California State University,

Fullerton

x

1,075 1,923,004 29.6

San Diego State University x 987 1,779,593 16.9

California State,

Sacramento

x

811 1,485,371 20.9

University of California, San

Diego

x

739 1,446,753 26.6

California Polytechnic State

University

x

673 1,337,638 16.8

Los Angeles ORT

Technical Institute

x

1,644 3,408,948 97.1

Center of Employment and

Training

x

1,509 3,067,293 67.1

University of Southern

California

x

703 1,370,395 21.5

United Education Institute x 10,536 19,258,455 91.7

College of English

Language

x

2,914 6,004,777 93.4

Glendale Career College x 2,345 3,608,784 75.4

National Education Center,

Bryman Campus

x

2,281 4,049,376 10.5

BNS Technical Institute x 1,373 2,858,867 92.2

Diversified Language

Institute

x

912 1,890,272 95.3

Systems Programming

Development Institute

x

818 1,632,286 83.9

Pacific Gateway College x 699 1,672,950 99.3

Subtotal 71,268 $116,687,340 40.9

New York (20 schools)

CUNY City College x 34,429 62,476,505 42.3

State University of New

York, Albany

x

4,738 9,263,423 13.0

(continued)

Page 23 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
Appendix V 

The 100 Schools With the Most Immigrant

Pell Grant Recipients, by State, Academic

Year 1992-93

Public schools

Private

schools

School

≤ 2

yrs.

≥ 4

yrs.

≤ 2

yrs.

≥ 4

yrs.

Proprietary

schools

Immigrant Pell

recipients

Immigrant Pell

aid

Immigrants as %

of all Pell aid

Bramson ORT Technical

Institute

x

1,446 2,466,677 97.8

Northeast Center for Judaic

Studies

x

1,400 2,685,060 61.5

Syrit Computer School

System

x

1,070 1,783,497 95.6

Touro College x 5,619 10,713,995 69.5

Beth Jacob Hebrew

Teachers College

x

3,574 7,919,651 97.4

Academy for Jewish

Education

x

2,461 5,325,430 94.2

Long Island University x 2,355 4,258,078 41.1

Sara Schenirer Teachers

Seminary

x

2,085 4,741,166 96.6

Academy for Creative

Learning for Adults

x

1,757 3,824,825 68.3

Molloy College x 1,247 2,485,073 68.3

New York University x 1,198 2,344,011 30.8

Mercy College x 1,116 2,034,667 35.8

St. Johns University x 937 1,755,720 28.3

Technical Career Institutes x 3,350 5,220,158 50.8

Career Blazers Learning

Center

x

3,059 5,963,196 93.5

Globe Institute of

Technology

x

1,460 2,569,440 95.5

Professional Business

Institute

x

792 1,010,639 79.2

Techno-Dent Training

Center

x

671 962,551 88.2

Subtotal 74,764 $139,803,762 43.3

New Jersey (6 schools)

Essex County College x 1,214 2,068,996 35.9

Passaic County Community

College

x

1,139 1,453,737 48.1

Hudson County Community

College

x

947 1,458,435 57.3

Middlesex County College x 738 1,041,142 39.9

Rutgers, the State

University of New Jersey

Central Office

x

1,455 2,652,242 20.7

(continued)

Page 24 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
Appendix V 

The 100 Schools With the Most Immigrant

Pell Grant Recipients, by State, Academic

Year 1992-93

Public schools

Private

schools

School

≤ 2

yrs.

≥ 4

yrs.

≤ 2

yrs.

≥ 4

yrs.

Proprietary

schools

Immigrant Pell

recipients

Immigrant Pell

aid

Immigrants as %

of all Pell aid

Union County College x 1,223 1,915,482 54.9

Subtotal 6,716 $10,590,034 35.0

Florida (5 schools)

Miami-Dade Community

College

x

9,494 13,979,407 49.0

Broward Community

College

x

1,064 1,378,605 24.9

Florida International

University

x

1,095 1,710,994 29.2

Miami Technical Institute x 1,136 2,083,176 62.2

Florida National x 875 1,688,090 70.2

Subtotal 13,664 $20,840,272 45.6

Texas (5 schools)

El Paso County Community

College District

x

4,058 5,559,727 36.3

Houston Community

College

x

2,118 3,047,870 30.8

University of Houston,

University Park

x

901 1,569,786 19.7

University of Texas, Pan

American

x

790 1,178,968 12.7

Microcomputer Technology

Institute

x

2,081 3,461,162 51.5

Subtotal 9,948 $14,817,513 30.1

Illinois (4 schools)

City Colleges of Chicago x 2,700 3,398,929 20.7

University of Illinois,

Chicago

x

1,537 2,752,092 26.9

St. Augustine College x 769 1,293,843 53.4

National-Louis University x 882 1,402,152 53.9

Subtotal 5,888 $8,847,016 27.9

Massachusetts (3 schools)

Bunker Hill Community

College

x

1,157 1,935,442 50.0

Roxbury Community

College

x

814 1,425,779 52.7

University of

Massachusetts, Boston

x

689 1,255,982 23.9

Subtotal 2,660 $4,617,203 39.1

(continued)

Page 25 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
Appendix V 

The 100 Schools With the Most Immigrant

Pell Grant Recipients, by State, Academic

Year 1992-93

Public schools

Private

schools

School

≤ 2

yrs.

≥ 4

yrs.

≤ 2

yrs.

≥ 4

yrs.

Proprietary

schools

Immigrant Pell

recipients

Immigrant Pell

aid

Immigrants as %

of all Pell aid

Maryland (2 schools)

Montgomery College x 1,494 2,434,986 52.9

University of Maryland x 746 1,343,429 22.5

Subtotal 2,240 $3,778,415 35.7

Pennsylvania (1 school)

Community College of

Philadelphia

x

1,388 $2,229,110 17.6

Virginia (1 school)

Northern Virginia

Community College

x

1,224 $1,964,691 55.2

Indiana (1 school)

ITT Technical Institute x 1,099 $1,760,834 7.8

Oregon (1 school)

Portland Community

College

x

977 $1,546,481 25.5

Washington (1 school)

University of Washington x 917 $1,687,071 19.4

Minnesota (1 school)

University of Minnesota,

Twin Cities

x

778 $1,494,901 12.3

Ohio (1 school)

Cuyahoga Community

College

x

764 $1,031,353 8.8

 Total 37 27 7 12 17 194,295 $331,695,996 38.4

(104820) Page 26 GAO/HEHS-96-7 Student Aid to Immigrants
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