College student Nohemi Salas is a self-described minimalist. In the house she shares with her parents and two siblings, she keeps her bedroom simple. There鈥檚 a blueish gray accent wall with no photos, a bed, desk and a potted plant hanging from the ceiling.
鈥淚f I have too many things in my room then it looks crowded and I can't concentrate. It's just hard to focus,鈥� she said.
Salas has had to really focus over the past two years. Until recently, the 22-year-old worked full-time as a dental assistant while taking classes part time at Front Range Community College, in Westminster, Colorado. She was born in Mexico and is a DACA recipient, also known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Less than half a million undocumented students are and make up about 2% of all higher education students. One of the biggest barriers to attending and finishing college is money. This group, which includes Salas, is not eligible for federal financial aid.
鈥淥ne of the reasons why I was working full-time is because I needed to pay for my tuition,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 think there was other options for me to pay for college. I just always felt like I had to do both.鈥�
Colorado is one of at that provides financial aid to undocumented students. To be eligible, a person must meet several qualifications like attending a Colorado high school for three years before graduating. Under a 2019 state law, these students have access to money to help with tuition, books and housing.
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to remove the obstacles to having all of our students get the education that they need and that we need as a state for them to get,鈥� said Angie Paccione, executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education.
Last October, the state started accepting applications and so far, 1,700 students have applied. But Paccione said her office doesn鈥檛 know yet how many of them have been approved.
鈥淚f you apply for and you received all of that aid, then you should be able to graduate,鈥� she said.
This is important because jobs in Colorado, and across the country, are changing.
By 2025, 60% of Americans ages 25 to 64 will need college degrees, industry-certificates, or other credentials to meet demand, according to Lumina, a . Nationwide, students of color including Hispanics and Latinos have a much than their white peers.
Colorado鈥檚 attainment is one of the highest in the country, which Paccione and her department are actively working to change.
鈥淚f we give them the opportunity to succeed, then they will succeed in our state and they will be tax paying citizens,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey will contribute in great ways to the economic needs of the state and to their own personal fulfillment.鈥�
This option wasn鈥檛 available for Marissa Molina, who grew up undocumented in Colorado. She started college before there was DACA or any financial help. She was even classified as an international student and paid nearly double in tuition and fees.
鈥淚 actually almost dropped out of college my sophomore year because my parents, as you can imagine, paying $10,000 a year, $11,000 a year cash was a really hard thing for my family to do,鈥� she said.
In 2012, President Barack Obama signed DACA which allowed Molina to take out a private student loan her junior year. As a senior, she received enough in scholarships to cover tuition.
It worked out for Molina; she paid off her loan and is a US permanent resident. Now, she鈥檚 the Colorado state director for FWD.us, a bipartisan political advocacy organization that works to reform the immigration and criminal justice systems.
鈥淚 think the state of Colorado has also sent a message to students about the importance that they have,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat they matter, that they're seen, that we want them to succeed in our state.鈥�
It鈥檚 important to get the word out, she continued. Students and families need to know the application is available and safe to fill out.
鈥淪o many folks in our community are afraid to share their status out loud, to ask for help, to ask for those resources,鈥� she said.
Salas recently started a dental hygienist program at Community College of Denver. During her first week, she attended class wearing gray scrubs and picked up equipment and three textbooks.
鈥淲e were going over, like, very basic things, like taking blood pressure, checking pulse, like all that, all that stuff,鈥� she said.
The rigorous two-year program costs about $30,000. Salas applied for state financial aid and received enough scholarships and grants to cover more than two-thirds of her tuition. It was enough money that she could quit her ful-ltime job and become a full-time student.
鈥淚t feels weird not to be working. But it's nice. I feel like I have more time to focus on my studies,鈥� she said.
Salas already has a new study routine. She goes into her room, shuts the door and makes sure her desk is empty. Then she puts down her laptop and opens a textbook, the clinical practice of the dental hygienist, to the first section.
Now, she鈥檚 ready to get to work.
An earlier version of this was published by The World on Sept. 13, 2021.
