Like many young people around the world, Emmanuel dreamed of getting a university education in the United States.
The 26-year-old only told VOA his first name because he is an undocumented immigrant. This means he does not have the official documents needed to enter, live in, or work in the U.S. legally. Emmanuel came to the U.S. from Mexico five years ago. But, when he arrived, he discovered that his dream was much more difficult to achieve than he thought.
“First I had to learn English and realized that there were very few opportunities for me to really study into formal education in the United States.” But then Emmanuel read about University of the People. University of the People is a university that has no tuition costs. The university’s classes and teaching materials are all free online. Also, all of the teachers are volunteers. Federal laws in the U.S. do not prevent undocumented immigrants from going to college. But laws do ban undocumented immigrants from receiving government financial aid.
