Before his family left Mexico, Joseluis Zacatelco remembers what his grandfather told him one afternoon while tending the fields of their rancho, where their profitable livestock had once grazed.
“You are going somewhere far,” Zacatelco recalled his abuelo’s words. “With education and perseverance, you can become the man of your dreams.”
Brought to the United States as a pre-teen, Zacatelco, now 30, carried the advice with him but didn’t realize his immigration status would obstruct his path. Today, as an activist he has walked hundreds of miles this year to advocate for the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, congressional legislation that would create a pathway to protected legal status for undocumented students.
“In applying for college, I realized I needed a Social Security number and I didn’t know what that was,” he said. “I think I was very innocent and ignorant of how the system worked.”
Every year, four-year higher education institutions receive thousands of applications from students like Zacatelco, who remain undeterred in their quest of earning a scholarship or financial aid for college.
In a survey released today, the National Association of College Admission Counseling (NACAC) reported that about 60 percent of 382 participating institutions said they had received college applications from undocumented students. Among the most selective nonprofit colleges in the survey sample, the percentage is 86 percent.
“Many undocumented students turn out to be very high-achieving and it would substantiate the description of these students as contributors to our society,” said David Hawkins, director of public policy and research at NACAC. NACAC supports the DREAM Act.
