Leticia Miranda

College Dreams Deferred

It seems it has never been more expensive to be a student without papers. As the recession takes a blow at college budgets, students without papers are looking at major financial obstacles as they figure out ways to pay for law school and even community college classes while oftentimes trying to support other family members.

From Cindy Von Quednow’s article on ColorLines.com:

Geraldine, a 19-year old Guatemala native, is one of the 65,000 estimated undocumented students who graduate from a U.S. high school every year, according to the Urban Institute, a Washington D.C. research group. Of those graduates, about 13,000 enroll in public colleges and universities each year.

Dr. William Perez, assistant professor of education at Claremont Graduate University and author of We ARE Americans: Undocumented Students Pursuing the American Dream, said the undocumented student experience is an extreme example of what students who come out of low-income communities of color have to face in higher education.

“This financial crisis has exacerbated the situation and really made access to higher education and all of the challenges undocumented students face, even more intense,” added Perez. “The barriers are much higher now.”

To read the rest of the article, click here.

Also, Educators for Fair Consideration in collaboration with Mission Graduates have put together a resource guide of scholarships that do not require a social security number. The guide contains up-to-date info about local, regional, and national scholarships available to students, regardless of citizenship or residency status. You can download the guide by clicking here. For more information contact E4FC at info@e4fc.org.

Posted at 2:20 PM, Sep 01, 2009 in ColorLines Features | Permalink | View Comments