Even though Diana Duarte Duran was able to get in-state tuition as an undocumented student at Phoenix College, paying the tuition bill was still a difficult thing to do.
“It was still kind of hard because my parents, they have to pay rent, all the bills,” Duran, 19, explained. “I wasn’t getting any federal aid. We don’t get food stamps. So adding another bill, which is college, is hard.”
Things got easier, however, after a former high school teacher told Duran about THEDREAM.US—a scholarship program created specifically for undocumented students known as “Dreamers” who have secured temporary permission to stay in the United States through the Obama administration’s “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” program, or DACA. THEDREAM.US scholarship is for Dreamers who have demonstrated significant unmet financial need.
Duran applied for and received a THEDREAM.US scholarship, which covered all of her $1,250 tuition at Phoenix College and provided $500 for books.
“It took care of the whole thing,” said Duran, who is majoring in paralegal studies with hopes of entering law school. “It was a true blessing.”
THEDREAM.US—an Arlington, Va.-based initiative begun in 2013—will help hundreds more Dreamers such as Duran thanks to a $5 million gift the organization secured recently from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan.
