Seeking Higher Education Opportunities for Undocumented Students

Coming from an immigrant family, I have witnessed first-hand the struggles undocumented students have to face when it comes to higher education. Before DACA, many of my family members simply decided to opt-out of going to college because there was no realistic way they would be able to afford college without any kind of financial help from the government. Already growing up with the understanding that higher education was not accessible for communities of color especially if you were undocumented, I began researching how we can change that. Within the past three years at the University of Denver, I have worked with my mentor at College Track, a program that guides high schoolers towards higher education, to see how we can implement a seminar focused on undocumented students within the program. I’ve worked to gather a plethora of resources that will be a part of this workshop and wanted to have people guiding these undocumented students without ostracizing them from the rest of the program. Currently, the progress towards this workshop has been at a standstill due to Covid-19 but, I am continuing my research and building upon my knowledge to give undocumented high schoolers access to an education they want.