What Is Refugee Scholarship? Trump's Immigration Ban Triggers Massachusetts' Wheaton College To Offer Grant To Asylum-Seekers

A Massachusetts college is offering scholarship to refugees mainly from the seven Muslim-majority nations that are listed under President Donald Trump’s executive order that temporarily bars citizens from those countries from entering the U.S.

Wheaton College, a liberal arts college, in Norton, announced the scholarship after Trump issued the controversial order, which halts immigration from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia for three months. The order also prevents all refugees from entering the country for 120 days. The ban was met with severe criticism, and on Saturday, the U.S. government suspended the ban a day after a federal judge in Washington state temporarily put a stay on it.

The college made the announcement about the scholarship, which is for a single student, on Jan. 31. It said that any asylum-seeker is welcome for the scholarship, but preference would be given to those from the seven countries listed under Trump’s executive order.

“We are establishing the Wheaton Refugee Scholarship as a way of adding our voice to the chorus of people across the country who are calling for the immigration ban to be lifted,” Wheaton College President Dennis Hanno said in a statement, adding that about 18 percent of the college's 1,650 students come from over 70 countries. “I encourage other colleges and universities to join us.

Hanno, however, noted that the college does not intend to breach any federal directives.

"We're not trying to do anything illegal," Hanno said, according to a Monday report by the Associated Press (AP). "It's really about trying to send a message to students who would normally be interested in Wheaton College that we're still interested in them, and hope they're still interested in us."

Hanno said that the scholarship is for more than the $41 million in total student aid Wheaton offers annually, of which over 90 percent goes to American students, the AP reported.

Although the admission deadline has passed, Wheaton has reopened admissions and is accepting applications through March 1. If a refugee student receives the scholarship and is not able to get a visa and enter the U.S. by next fall, the college will postpone admission, Grant M. Gosselin, vice president and dean of admission and student aid, told the Boston Globe.

“These students have faced hardships unlike anything we could imagine and will need significant assistance to make acquiring an education possible,” Gosselin said. “We believe it is our responsibility as contributors to global education to make this commitment.”