Issues Faced By Undocumented College Students

Moran’s Article: Immigrant College Students Facing Challenges

Moran in this article highlights the problems that are faced by Immigrant College students who are not documented or rather legally admitted into the states they currently live in. The author pays particular attention to undocumented college students studying at Michigan University. In order to make his points and arguments concise and clear on the topic of discussion, he illustrates much of the issues raised by Jose Franco who is the founder of the aforementioned university. For example, the writer focuses on four fundamental challenges that are of most concern. The problems include various changes affecting the policies that are meant to safeguard the rate at which institutions of higher learning should charge tuition fees on the immigrant students, the manners in which in-state tuition is provided, expected ratio of attendance, and politics surrounding bills introduced to safeguard the interests of the undocumented college students.

How Moran’s Article Fits the Research

In understanding the four main points raised in the above article, it is clear that it is imperative for the successful completion of this study. The audiences targeted by this study expect to be informed vastly on the particular challenges faced by immigrant students entering the colleges or those who are already registered and continuing their studies. As such, this paper is perverse in its context of coverage to discuss not only the immigrants in general but also singles out the main problems faced by immigrants who are undocumented. For example, the researcher is able to use these source as a reference material to prove to the audience that it has been found, hence inferred that while the immigrants are allowed to attend college schools in the foreign countries, many of them are usually subjected to paying more fees compared to the originals. Secondly, there are political and personal interests that work towards thwarting efforts that seek to instate bills that protect the immigrants from exploitation in the education sector. Thirdly, many schools such as Michigan University lack standard procedures that outline how the immigrants who lack documentation can access secondary and tertiary education. Thus, many parents and children are often stranded matters of perusing their professions. The fourth issue is the outright advantage given to residence where the majority of the attendance that also influences students’ admission is accorded to the locals.

Signal Word In-Text

Moran illustrates that at the moment, the state of Michigan is already full of aged people. Therefore, it is high time it developed a viable option to consider absorbing college-ready yet undocumented students since it risks losing them to other colleges in other nations (9).

According to Moran (9), the Michigan State University despite always reviewing its policies to better serve the students, the University’s admission office has no plans of changing its policies to cater for the educational interest of the illegal immigrants.

As noted by Moran (9), many students due to lack of effective communication channels for the immigrant students, many are complete unaware that they can access education.

Moran noted that the efforts by one of the house representative’s bills introduced to offer in-state tuition to undocumented workers’ children born in the United States have not been acted upon by the government operations (9).

Undocumented Students and Higher Education by Kim and Jeannette (2013)

Summary of Kim and Jeannette Literary Work

The article by Kim and Jeannette talks about the undocumented students and higher education with reference to the challenges they face. According to the two authors, it is noted that college immigrants are faced with the tribulations that include having to deal with barriers that hinder them from gaining access to secondary education, inability to be admitted into the desired colleges or universities based on laws that do not allow their entry, and inability to access the colleges as a result of not being in a position to pay the higher tuition fees even if they would qualify and be allowed to attend the colleges.

Nevertheless, there are many compelling reasons justifying why the immigrants should be granted secondary education. The authors in this article explain that in the United States of America where the majority of the laborers emanate from the immigrant group, secondary education that shapes an individual’s carrier line is crucial for the experiences required for particular job types. Unfortunately, the Congress has failed in its mandate to address the educational issues affecting the immigrants’ other states focusing on challenges including immigrant access to colleges, offering in-state tuition to residents, and access to financial aids and scholarships notwithstanding. The list of ideas in this paper is quite long yet some cannot go unmentioned in this summary. As such, points of view that are important for understanding the challenges that immigrants are subjected encompass federal regulations that immigrant students have to succumb, how the state approaches and response to the plights of the immigrants’ quests for higher education, and forces opposing in-state tuition rates in favor of undocumented students.

How Kim and Jeannette’s Article Suits the Study

Assessment and critical analysis of the above article show that it fits the paper due to its’ would be important in addressing the main parts of the paper. For example, a researcher can use the contents of this article to develop a captivating introduction to introduce the audience to the topic of discussion. From it, it is possible to generate a shorter summary of the background information pertaining to the history of the immigrants with regards to obtain the college education. Since the authors provide detailed information about the number of undocumented immigrants facing higher education challenges, an individual involved in this research would be able to use this information to build on the research questions, the justification for the study and formulate objective and goals that need to be accomplished. For instance, having inferred that about 10.8 million undocumented immigrants resided in the U.S at 2010, the number has increased and the fact that 5.1 constitute U.S workforce, there is the need to understand various problems they face with respect to gaining an education in the country. In particular, access to secondary education which enable them to be productive in the jobs they are employed to deliver on. Therefore, a research can delve into collecting and analyzing data that answers key questions including What are the federal regulations that immigrant students have deal with, how does the state approach and respond to the plights of the immigrants’ quests for higher education, and what exactly are the forces that oppose in-state tuition rates that are to be in favor of undocumented students.

Signal Word In-Text

Kim and Jeannette note that “the first piece of federal legislation to affect undocumented students’ access to postsecondary education was the Higher Education Act of 1965” (80). Section 505 of the 1996 Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act highlights that:

...an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a state ... for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit without regard to whether the citizen or national is such resident (81).

Documenting Implementation Realities: Undocumented Immigrant Students in California and North Carolina by Oseguera et al. (2010)

Summary of Oseguera et al.’s Article

In this article, Oseguera et al. inform us of the various pathways that are employed by respective states to tackle the challenges affecting the undocumented students in addition to the realities that the constantly changing demographics of the state present. The author writes on the need to continue having formalized ways of addressing particular ways in which educational policies affecting the undocumented immigrants can be addressed. Moreover, the authors’ discussion highlights on the vital corresponding decisions those community educational leaders should work on. For example, there is the urgent call for the decision-makers to examine the respective community college systems and develop rationales addressing the particular ways of enabling the undocumented immigrants to access secondary education. The most compelling question that the authors’ want people to understand its answer regards the how the states in their individualistic capacities frame policies guiding the undocumented immigrant students’ access to educational resources in the community college structures as well as the modalities of constructing tuition policies besides associated admission regulations. The authors conclude that it is necessary to work on ensuring that undocumented immigrants access quality secondary education since that work in every field one could ever imagine. Thus, it is essential that the community and the nation develop rich and economically productive residents by investing in educating the undocumented immigrants.

Why This Particular Article Fits the Research Project

In examining the above article, it is notable that it majorly informs the readers on reasons for enabling undocumented immigrants to access secondary education. Therefore, information gained from it would be applied in the study when it comes to justifying why the challenges that hinder the college immigrants from access education and grants should be addressed by respective states. For example, it cannot be disputed that undocumented immigrants form the majority of the American workforce. Thus, it is very important that a worker is equipped with the required knowledge for a particular job to enable maximum productivity. As explained by Oseguera et al. undocumented immigrants are in every field of profession, hence, it would be sensible to apply information obtained from this article to inform and make recommendations for states that depend on undocumented immigrants as laborers yet deny them access to education, subject to them to harder paper works and limit access to educational grants.

Signal Word In-Text

In attempts to explain to the mass that it is the states that hat lose while making it harder for the college immigrants to access education, Oseguera et al. (42), asks “what the social and economic costs to are to such isolation?”

Since many youths have lived in the second states longer compared to how long they have been to the current states of residence, they have cultured values and expectations of such states. From such a viewpoint, Osegura et al note that:

...The success and failure of the interplay between education and immigration policies are in the hands of not only policymakers but the practitioners most likely to encounter the realities of these students under debate ... (42).

Works Cited

Kim, Eunyoung, and Jeannette Díaz. “Undocumented Students and Higher Education.” ASHE Higher Education Report, vol. 38, no. 6, Jan. 2013, pp. 77–90. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=85690538&site=ehost-live.

Moran, Darcie. ”Undocumented Immigrants Face Higher Tuition at Some Schools.” Grand Rapids Business Journal, vol. 32, no. 20, May 2014, p. 7. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bwh&AN=96171356&site=ehost-live.

Oseguera, Leticia, et al. ”Documenting Implementation Realities: Undocumented Immigrant Students in California and North Carolina.” Journal of College Admission, no. 206, Winter 2010, pp. 37–43. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=47506528&site=ehost-live.