A special session was held on undocumented students and higher education at the College Board’s 2008 Colloquium. Alfred Herrera, assistant vice provost for academic affairs at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Joshua Bernstein, director of federal policy for the National Immigration Law Center, discussed what they refer to as the “1.5 generation,” undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children and were educated in our K-12 system.

Herrera pointed out that not all of these students are Latinos. They also come from the Caribbean islands, Asia and Europe. Most were brought to the United States without documentation, or their documentation has expired. In most cases, they have not left the United States. “They know no other country. Many don’t realize they are undocumented until they apply for college admission,” Herrera said.

Bernstein said that students in this group are often overachievers and gave the example of at least 17 high school valedictorians in the state of California last year who are undocumented.

Bernstein outlined the provisions of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act, (known as the DREAM Act), proposed federal legislation that would provide a solution for undocumented students who aspire to go to college. Students who came into the country before the age of 15, have been here for at least five years, show good moral character and graduate from high school would be allowed a path to citizenship after graduating from college or spending two years in the military. It would also eliminate a federal provision that discourages states from providing in-state tuition to their undocumented immigrant student residents.

Nationwide, there are about 360,000 recent high school graduates who are undocumented and about 715,000 in our K-12 system. “Those are the ones who are hanging in the balance, because they will be the ones to benefit if they graduate from high school.”

Bernstein said that support for the act has grown, despite the lack of powerful lobbyists or a lot of funding. The most powerful constituency would be educators, he said.

Herrera outlines other ways for educators to help, including encouraging private scholarship organizations not to exclude these students when considering awards, developing a systematic way to provide school counselors with appropriate information and suggesting that students create an admissions portfolio showing their accomplishments.  

Some of these undocumented students are the brightest and most talented students we have, Herrera said. “They are the children who could go on to change our world.”