ABSTRACT
Every year, approximately 65,000 undocumented immigrant students graduate from high school (American Immigration Council, 2010). Only about 13,000 of them enroll in U.S. colleges and universities (Passel, 2003). Over a decade, that can account for over half a million undocumented students, many of whom have lived in the United States for over five years, not pursuing a postsecondary education. While access to higher education has increased significantly over time, large disparities among low-income and historically underrepresented minorities still persist (Cahalan, Perna, Yamashita, Ruiz, & Franklin, 2016). Undocumented students, in particular, encounter additional barriers brought on by the fear of deportation and having to deal with anti-immigrant policies throughout their time in education, while also experiencing many of the barriers that other low-income, historically underrepresented minorities face in postsecondary education contexts. Given our nation’s push for a more college-educated populace in order to be globally competitive, not only do states and institutions need to improve their college completion rates (Zumeta, Breneman, Callan, & Finney, 2012), but the federal government should provide guidance in increasing access to postsecondary education to undocumented students. The state of undocumented students’ participation in higher education is the result of contradictory policies within institutional, state, and federal contexts (Gildersleeve & Hernandez, 2012), and is connected to the history of immigration law. Considering that earning a postsecondary education credential is seen as necessary to improve both an individual’s social mobility and the nation’s economy (Baum, Ma, & Payea, 2010), several efforts over the past 30 years have challenged the way our nation offers education to undocumented students. While undocumented students (in most states) are not banned from attending public colleges and universities in the U.S., many states do not offer these students in-state tuition, and oftentimes, staff and faculty in these 178schools are unaware of the resources undocumented students have access to as noncitizens of the United States (Contreras, 2011). With their legacy of increasing access and educational attainment to disadvantaged populations, Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) can serve as models of excellence in serving our undocumented population. Using literature on the history of access to education through public policy for undocumented students, the experiences of undocumented students in postsecondary education contexts, and information gathered from several organizations that provide advocacy and support to undocumented students, this chapter details how the contemporary rhetoric and policies surrounding the legal status of undocumented students demonstrate the nation’s inability to provide equitable pathways to educational attainment and social mobility for undocumented immigrants. By highlighting what some MSIs are doing to support their undocumented population, these institutions are expanding their legacy of inclusion to support this underserved population.
