I didn’t. It was most likely because whenever the topic of college came up, my older sister would retort, “Why apply when I can’t even attend?” while my parents would look largely discouraged and guilt-ridden. So, I naturally assumed that I couldn’t attend either. I guess the moral of this story is: Learn to question authority! If only I hadn’t believed my sister’s bitter lamentations and my parents’ guilty glances, I wouldn’t have spent a year or so feeling hopeless about my future. Bleh! And there’s nothing I haven’t questioned authority about since. Is milk really good for your body? Did we really land on the moon? Does this red button really do what you say it does?

I’m telling you here and now that undocumented youth can indeed go to college. So, if you decided to go on a self-destructive rampage despite my previous post, stop immediately because as it turns out, you could very well have a future after high school.

On your college application, don’t write that you are a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. Never state that you are a U.S. citizen or permanent resident on any form of paperwork whatsoever. Check the boxes that correctly correlates to your immigration status, which will most likely make the admissions staff assume that you’re an international student. Therefore, you have to let them know, in one way or another, that you’re undocumented, so that you’re not forced to submit bank statements, a TOEFL test score, and so on. Do anything from writing, “I’m undocumented” on your application to telling an admissions staff member face-to-face that you’re undocumented. If admitted, you’ll most likely still be classified as an international student, get your school email address’ inbox cluttered with mass emails pertaining to international students, and have to keep reminding various administrative staff that you’re undocumented. Opening up to people about your immigration status might currently be difficult for you emotionally, but it gets easier with time. More opportunities could be made available to you if select people know of the circumstances you’re in.

Most of you will have to pay out-of-state tuition for public colleges and universities unless you live in California, Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico, New York, Nebraska, Minnesota, Texas, Utah, or Washington. The aforementioned states allow undocumented students who have lived in their respective states for at least three years prior to their high school graduation to pay in-state tuition. There are other requirements, and most likely, requirements specific to each state, which Dreamactivist.org has some links and details about in its FAQ section that I didn’t know existed until roughly a week ago. If you don’t live in one of these states, try to immediately move to one of them if you’re a freshmen in high school or younger (I’m half-kidding and half-completely serious about this suggestion). Doing so could save you a lot of financial heartache when it comes to college tuition. If moving isn’t a possibility for you, a private university could potentially be a better place to attend. Their tuition is more expensive. However, they tend to be more free and willing to give private financial aid to their undocumented students. Either way, try to do your best in high school because being a 4.25 GPA-ed high school student with an excessive amount of extra-curricular activities makes you pretty susceptible to being rewarded with generous private scholarships.

You are only eligible for private scholarships, which means no workstudy, grants, public scholarships, or federally-subsidized student loans. There are loans from numerous financial institutions that you could apply for, but only if you have a co-signer who is a U.S. Citizen. If your college requires you to file a FAFSA, you can do so by filling it out in paper form and giving it to your college’s financial aid department. Do not lie on your form. Check the appropriate boxes that state that you are not interested in being considered for federal financial aid. Leave the Social Security Number section blank if you don’t have one. You need a valid Social Security Number in order to submit a FAFSA online, so your only option is the paper FAFSA. You won’t receive any form of federal financial aid by filing a FAFSA, but colleges use FAFSA to determine your financial need, how much financial aid you’re eligible for. “You should complete and submit your FAFSA even if you are not eligible for federal student aid. You may be eligible for financial aid from other sources” (FAFSA).

If a four-year university is too expensive for you, community college is a great alternative. Community college isn’t just for “losers”. It also isn’t just for geriatrics, stay-at-home parents, people who did horribly in high school, and total flakes who have never completed anything in their lives. Community college is, in addition to all of the above, for pragmatic students who have financial difficulties, undocumented or not. My high school counselors vehemently supported that students go to community college first and transfer to a four-year university as a junior. Community college is relatively inexpensive and the transfer rate to a four-year university is high. Half of my graduating class decided to go to a community college, and they weren’t ashamed of it because there is nothing to be ashamed of. Going to community college isn’t going to diminish you or your potential for excellence.

Make sure to look over the transfer requirements to the four-year universities you’re thinking about eventually attending. Some schools, such as Harvard, don’t accept transfer students. However, if your marks are good enough for acceptance into a school like Harvard straight after high school, it might be better to forgo community college, and attend said school as a freshman. Prestigious private universities, such as the Ivy Leagues, tend to be very financially supportive of their students; they have the financial capabilities and hold an open-minded philosophy about education. I might be sounding too optimistic with that last sentence, but who knows? I certainly don’t go to an Ivy League.

Oh, and did you know? No matter which school you attend, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be the only undocumented student there. Undocumented youth are kind of like a Waldo you can never find; you know they’re there, but you just don’t know where.

- Ille the gal

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Well, that was a rather dry post loaded with information. Please don’t rely on the information I’ve written in this post alone (Question “authority”!) and do research on your own in case I’m wrong (…though, I doubt it. Haha!). Feel free to email me comments, questions, and suggestions.