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Article Title

Addressing the Elephant in the Room: Understanding the Daily Life of Undocumented Latino High School Youth

Graduation Year

2013

Abstract

The 1.5 generation are the undocumented students who were born abroad and were brought to the United States by their parents at an early age. Many of these children came here during the population boom in the 1990’s and are now teenagers or in their mid 20’s. As they are finishing high school, nearly all of them are confused about their post-secondary options because of their undocumented status. The IL Dream Act, passed in 2011, qualifies undocumented youth to pay in-state tuition when attending public universities in Illinois and provides trained counselors who are aware of the college options and post-secondary resources for undocumented youth. However, this research shows that counselors may still be confused and unaware of the resources for their undocumented students, and about the struggles of their daily lives. This study intends to discover what school staff in McLean County know about the everyday life of their undocumented students and what kinds of post-secondary resources (available through the IL Dream Act) are being recommended to this unique group of students.

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