Staff Writer
Marco Cervantes applied to five colleges and was accepted to all of them. His plans after high school were filled with libraries, books and a prospective degree — until his college financial aid office asked him for his Social Security number.
As an immigrant without documentation, Cervantes did not have one to give.
He was told he would be classified as an international student and charged out-of-state tuition — a rate he could not afford.
“It just really didn’t make any sense to me because I had gone to high school and lived in North Carolina since I was 3 years old,” Cervantes said.
“And I couldn’t go to college because of tuition rates.”
Instead of attending college like many of his classmates, Cervantes joined the Carrboro-based Immigrant Youth Forum , where he devotes his knowledge and skills to advocating for in-state tuition for students without documentation and other immigrants’ rights issues.
Cervantes, his organization and Witness for Peace: Southeast, a national organization that works for justice in the Southeast, protested on UNC’s campus last week to raise awareness about the need for tuition equality.