Documented Dreams, the Underground Railroad and Underground Undergraduates: Higher Education for the Undocumented and the Use of Student Movements to Achieve this Goal

The Supreme Court in Plyler recognized that undocumented children are a vulnerable subclass in the United States. While under Plyler undocumented children receive a free elementary and secondary education, the promise of an education ends once they complete secondary education. Their irregular immigration status poses unique challenges when seeking higher education, very often leading to prohibitively high tuition rates-even for those students who have lived in a state for many years-or worse yet, a complete prohibition against enrolling in postsecondary institutions.