The Underground Railroad for college

PerfesserC via Wikimedia Commons

A Navigate scholarship pays for Denise's tuition at MCTC

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To get a deeper view of the struggle that illegal immigrants have in getting an education, check out this piece by MPR's Sasha Aslanian on a student group that helps illegal immigrants get into college and find ways to pay for it.

It's about Navigate, a first-of-its-kind nonprofit that started in 2007. One of its founders will graduate from Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC), this spring.

How is that possible?

It's not against the law for a student like Denise to attend college. There's a long list of public and private colleges in Minnesota that welcome students regardless of their legal status in this country.

The piece mentions the DREAM Act, federal legislation featured here previously that would give legal status to certain immigrants who spend two years either in college or the military.