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Course: College admissions > Unit 1

Lesson 3: Access to college
Life skills
College admissions
Getting started
Access to college
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Student story: Overcoming immigration obstacles to college

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This student shares their experience as an undocumented person. They faced fear of being separated from their family and home. This fear affected their college application process. However, they turned that fear into motivation, pursued a college degree, and set an example for their younger siblings.

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  • starky ultimate style avatar for user sirus
    Posted 9 years ago. Direct link to sirus's post “What is an undocumented c...”
    What is an undocumented child?
    (7 votes)
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  • piceratops sapling style avatar for user Yasmin Lansiquot
    Posted 9 years ago. Direct link to Yasmin Lansiquot's post “How was she able to apply...”
    How was she able to apply to colleges when she was undocumented? And how did she get excepted?
    (13 votes)
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  • aqualine ultimate style avatar for user Flanny
    Posted 9 years ago. Direct link to Flanny's post “Why would someone be take...”
    Why would someone be taken away from their parents when they apply to go to college? At any rate, since most people applying to go to college are adults, could they even have taken this woman away from her mother at all?
    (7 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
    • hopper cool style avatar for user Christi
      Posted 9 years ago. Direct link to Christi's post “Not everyone applying for...”
      Not everyone applying for college is an adult. But, in this case, the question is if the young lady would get deported. A family could get split up if one of the family is deported, but the others are not because they haven't been tracked down. By applying for college and admitting to not being a documented citizen, an individual is leaving a trail for officials who might deport her.
      (8 votes)
  • ohnoes default style avatar for user B
    Posted 5 years ago. Direct link to B's post “I still don't understand ...”
    I still don't understand how you can be undocumented yet still apply for colleges. Wouldn't the college turn them over to the police? What happens if they get accepted anyway?
    (8 votes)
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    • winston baby style avatar for user Ivana - Science trainee
      Posted 5 years ago. Direct link to Ivana - Science trainee's post “While being undocumented ...”
      While being undocumented in one country maybe she applied abroad to college? I know you need big amount fo money for that, but just because you are undocumented in let's say 'homecountry' that has nothing to dow ith another country you are applying to college, or am I wrong?

      Especially nowaday sin 2019...the laws are so strict and nobody likes immigrants. People from smaller countries have no hope or options to go into bigger and wealthier countries. So she must be lucky or has some additional help.
      (3 votes)
  • female robot grace style avatar for user Veronica Viticella
    Posted 7 years ago. Direct link to Veronica Viticella's post “Hello. This ins't enti...”
    Hello.

    This ins't entirely related to this video, but I would like to attend college in Germany as a homeschooler. Is it feasible?
    (4 votes)
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  • male robot johnny style avatar for user Mohamed Ibrahim
    Posted 4 years ago. Direct link to Mohamed Ibrahim's post “Thought the video was tal...”
    Thought the video was talking about the legal obstacles for immigration
    (3 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • blobby green style avatar for user MatthewS
    Posted a year ago. Direct link to MatthewS's post “I still don't understand ...”
    I still don't understand how you can be undocumented yet still apply for colleges. Wouldn't the college turn them over to the police? What happens if they get accepted anyway?
    (2 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
    • aqualine tree style avatar for user David Alexander
      Posted a year ago. Direct link to David Alexander's post “Colleges and universities...”
      Colleges and universities are not law enforcement agencies. Much of student financial aid in the USA comes from the federal government, so an undocumented person would be denied aid at that gateway. Nobody will come knocking at your door with drawn guns.

      If you get admitted anyway, failure of ability to pay your fees will soon have you gone.
      (2 votes)
  • blobby green style avatar for user Aryal Ajay
    Posted 3 months ago. Direct link to Aryal Ajay's post “When we thing we can, not...”
    When we thing we can, nothing else exists as a problem.
    (1 vote)
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    • aqualine tree style avatar for user David Alexander
      Posted 3 months ago. Direct link to David Alexander's post “That can depend on what i...”
      That can depend on what it is we think that we can do. For example, if I think that I can fly, then jump off the roof, I'm very likely to encounter a problem. Also, if I think that I can get into the Electrical Engineering department of National Taiwan University without knowing any Chinese, I may discover there's a problem.

      Thinking that we "can't" do something is certainly a barrier, but thinking that we "can" does not guarantee success.
      (2 votes)
  • starky ultimate style avatar for user Lyric
    Posted 5 days ago. Direct link to Lyric's post “Hey. I'm a 9th grader fro...”
    Hey. I'm a 9th grader from Bangladesh and I want to go to my dream college to study about English Language and Literature, that's just always been my favourite. So, I really want to apply to a college in either US or UK (Oxford's my top priority though I'm pretty sure I won't be able to make it XD). Still, I have a dream to go there and learn my favourite subject at my favourite university in my favourite country. But I'm still not sure how I can apply (a few years later) and what I'll need to do then and NOW. I'm kinda struggling with this for a year now and I really want to start preparing myself now. Does anyone have any advice for me? It'll help me a lot.
    (1 vote)
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    • aqualine tree style avatar for user David Alexander
      Posted 5 days ago. Direct link to David Alexander's post “If you have money, much o...”
      If you have money, much of that can be solved, because both the USA and the UK are looking for rich foreign students to fill college spaces and pay top-price for the privilege.

      If you don't have money, then you might have to settle for "less than your favorite subject in less than your favorite university in less than your favorite country."

      So, begin your exploration by talking with your parents, who will likely be providing the money.
      (1 vote)
  • aqualine ultimate style avatar for user tonytsab
    Posted 8 years ago. Direct link to tonytsab's post “I fell way different but ...”
    I fell way different but I need help in school!
    (1 vote)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user

Video 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.