Hey everybody

I am obviously new, but more to the point, I am a seventeen year old overstay who is about to graduate from high school, I have been in the United States since September 6, 2001. (How's that for timing?)

I actually stumbled upon this site while doing research on the possibility of my attending a college or university within my state. Further help on this topic would be appreciated.

Welcome.

Welcome aboard. What are your plans regarding college?

Currently applying to Virginia Commonwealth University, although I'm not sure as to what I should state for my citizenship status. I really don't want to lie, but I can't afford not to.

do not lie on the application.

My suggestion would be to call undergraduate admissions and let them know of your situation and how they expect you to fill the application. You do not have to identify who you are if you feel uncomfortable, but different universities may have different ways of processing the application of undocumented students, at least that was my experience when applying to universities. Additionally, if there are resources that are available to undocumented students within the university, they are the most likely to know about those resources.

Never claim in any official document that you are a citizen, or a permanent resident if you are not.

for the SSN field, either put all zeroes or leave it blank, when you talk to undergraduate admissions they will let you know, do not put your ITIN number (in fact do not put your ITIN number in any documents as an SSN number, its a very bad idea).

You may fill out a FAFSA, but you may only turn it in to the university if they require that, do not turn in the FAFSA to the government, and make sure they do not turn in the FAFSA to the government either, but there are universities that will require a FAFSA even if you are undocumented, they will use the information for themselves.

As far as education, I have heard that people have better chances of getting more assistance attending private universities than public universities, and that's usually because as undocumented students we are not able to accept scholarships that have been funded by tax payers, whereas, private universities usually depend on private funds to operate (donations from alumni for example).

Don't hesitate to ask if you have further questions.

Thanks, I'll do that. Unfortunately Virginia has no program for undocumented students, which means it's more than likely that Undergraduate Admissions will have no idea what to do, the counselor at my highschool has already talked to them, and according to her nothing can be done, but I intend to check for myself.

The reason we created the IL DREAM Act and the reason the IL DREAM Act has a component that specifically states that counselors need to be trained on how to deal with undocumented youth and what resources are available to them is because there have been such a large number of people that have come to us basically telling us that their counselors told them it was not possible to go to college.

There is tons that can be done.

We were getting story after story about counselors telling their students that they should not go to college, that it would be a waste of time and money, that they would not be able to do anything after they graduated and to basically just start working straight out of high school because its the only thing they could do, and unfortunately some listened to those counselors, others did not and are becoming very successful with their education.

There are people starting their own businesses to be able to use their education since they cannot be employed.

I would not go back to that counselor, you are not the only undocumented youth graduating from high school, the statistics lists, what, 65,000 graduating every year, I am sure it will not be the first time the university have heard of an undocumented student trying to apply, and will likely be able to have answers for you on what you need to do.

I would also like to point out that I was raised in the state of Florida. That state does not allow its students the ability to pay in-state tuition if they are undocumented, but I applied to schools there and I applied to schools all over the country, and I managed to get a scholarship in a private university in the state of Illinois, I am a year away from graduating, I also got accepted to 10 out of 12 universities that I applied to, it is possible.

I find it very hard to believe that the counselor called them if he/she told you there is nothing that can be done, sounds to me like the starting of another incompetent counselor story I have unfortunately heard too many times already.

I see... thank you.

I didn't know about the private option until recently, and the deadline for those I have a chance at, has passed.

Our moderator has told you everything you need to know. Just wanted to add one more thing. I know a former undocumented friend (he married a USC) who attends VCU so you should have no problem at all.