Annals of Education May 22, 2017 Issue
An Underground College for Undocumented Immigrants
Refused admission by public universities and unable to get funding from private ones, aspiring students find another way.
By Jonathan Blitzer
Melissa and Ashley, identical twins from Georgia, shared a bedroom while growing up. They had the same best friend, took classes together in high school, and dreamed of becoming artists in their own collective. “We’re like two different people with one brain,” Melissa liked to say.
In the spring of 2011, during their junior year, they decided to apply to college in their usual way—in tandem. The University of Georgia, in Athens, the state’s flagship university, was their first choice. “All my life, I knew I wanted to go to college, even before I understood what that would entail,” Ashley said. “My parents didn’t go to college, so they didn’t know how to navigate all this. We had to figure out the process for ourselves.” As soon as they started filling out the application online, however, they encountered a problem. The second page of the Web site wouldn’t load.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/22/an-underground-college-for-undocumented-immigrants?mbid=rss
