Latino Organization of the Southwest: DREAMers can go to college

There are 1.5 million undocumented students under the age of 18 living in the United States, 65,000 graduate every year, most have lived in the US for most of their lives. One of the major challenges in obtaining a higher education faced by this population is the inability to apply for financial aid.

On Thursday, February 20, 2014, LOS, in collaboration with Eric Solorio High School, presented a "DREAMers" Financial Aid workshop. The main speaker was Ms. Leticia Moreno, a Financial Aid Officer from IIT University.

Undocumented students as well as parents were invited to listen to the information on how to successfully ingress into a Higher Education institution. Ms. Moreno explained the process for enrollment and the different ways to achieve success in regards to acquiring institutional and private scholarships as well as student loans.

Parents and students were very interested in the information that was provided, because there were many points of interest that the listeners learned.

Ms. Alejandra Cabrera, from LOS, was also invited to speak on the process of how to apply for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) which should help students maneuver through the job market to find employment.

This workshop was a success, and because of it, more workshops will be presented in the near future.

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Luis Muñoz, Higher Education & Job Readiness Coordinator