“What I have experienced is that it is really difficult living with temporary status. Myself, I have DACA, and I was able to get an associate’s degree. But it was really difficult because you have to find ways to try to go to school. I went to a local community college before I started school and they were trying to charge me out-of-state tuition. It was really expensive. So you always find roadblocks along your journey.”
“I feel like not having a status, or a limited status, it’s really like, I guess, finding yourself in a maze. You take one way thinking that’s the way out and you follow it until you can no longer get through anymore. Then you have to get through it backward, take another route, and you advance a little bit more, but then there’s another roadblock, you know what I mean? I guess I picture a maze where you never know when it’s going to be the end and you’re not going to be able to do anything for yourself anymore.”
“I’m a nurse; I care for America’s citizens in the worst days of their lives. Because I work in a unit with patients who are really sick, I save people’s lives. I would like people to know that immigrants are part of the community; we’re part of this country. And I mean, just like me, immigrants can contribute so much. All we want to do is succeed and do good things. If they could allow scholarships, then they could allow students to be part of the country because we could help the country a lot.”
“I was able to go to school. Now I’m contributing more to the economy – I was able to buy a vehicle, I was able to get a house. I know there are a lot of young people out there who want to go to school, but they just really can’t afford it with the out-of-state tuition problem. And if they can only allow us to go to school, I mean we don’t really ask for much, just let us go to school. We’ll pay for it – I’ve paid for my school. I mean, education changes everything, a career changes everything.”
*Pseudonym, not his real name. Data collected in 2017.
Research study conducted by Dr. Laura M. Gonzalez, School of Ed., UNC Greensboro
