Student story: Overcoming immigration obstacles to college
About this video
A student describes how being undocumented brought constant fear of being separated from family, a fear that grew when college applications asked about immigration status. Even his mom urged him not to go. He turned that fear into motivation, applied with courage, and set an example for his younger siblings.
You'll be able to
- describe an obstacle undocumented students may face when applying to college.
- explain how the student turned fear into motivation.
- explain why his choice mattered for his younger siblings.
Key words
- undocumented
- Living in a country without official immigration papers that allow you to stay there.
- college application
- The forms and materials a student sends to a college to ask to be admitted.
- motivation
- A reason or drive that pushes you to act or keep going.
Transcript
- An obstacle I faced being undocumented is the constant fear, the fear of being taken away from your family, from your home, from things you love, and that confronted me when I came around to the college process, and when I had to do applications, I had to check boxes that said I was undocumented, it presented fear within me, and also my family.
It came to one point, my mom's saying, "Don't go to college, "because they'll know you're undocumented, "and they'll take you away from me." And that fear played a big role in me saying no at one point, and then it led to motivation of saying, "Well, no, I'm undocumented, "but I'm not useless, I could do something."
So that made me pursue a college degree, and it helped me fill out those college applications with courage. And doing that, I set an example for my younger siblings, and for them, for when it's their turn to apply to college, they won't have that fear.
Video © Khan Academy, used under CC BY-NC-SA. Watch on Khan Academy. Puzzicle is not affiliated with Khan Academy.