The Fight for Education: A Study on the struggles immigrant students face on their path to post secondary education

Abstract

The majority of research done one immigrant students, primarily focus on the success of the students. Current research shows how resilient and strong willed students with documented status are. This research fails to explore the specific struggles and obstacles of which undocumented students face, not only in high school but also in their journey to and throughout college. Although there is some research that is starting to examine the struggles of undocumented youth and their journeys to and in college, it is still widely understudied. This study aims to outlines the policies and procedures put in place the hinders unauthorized youths from attending college. It also aims to show how colleges fail to cater to the needs of unauthorized students and students from immigrant families. After these students manage to attend college in spite of current policies, their needs are practically ignored by university administration. My research questions are 1) how are the policies and procedures of current administration impacting the opportunity for students with undocumented status and students of immigrant families to obtain college level education? 2) How do colleges reach the needs of their students with undocumented status and students from immigrant families. I will be interviewing both students and individuals that were not able to attend college in order to get a better sense of how they feel about the immigration policies put in place.