January 25, 2017
For Arturo Fernandez, life as an undocumented college student turned out to be tougher than he thought. His classes were rigorous and demanding, and he was under immense financial strain. He was paying in-state tuition, thanks to a state law passed in 2001, and he'd received several private scholarships, but UC raised tuition at the end of his first year and suddenly the scholarships weren't enough.
"It was really hard," he says. "Like a lot of students at Berkeley, I was trying to find my footing. Then, on top of that, I kind of had an identity crisis of what it meant to be undocumented. I'd lived in California my whole life, but I wasn't a citizen. I grew up thinking, 'I am America's child.' But then you get to an age where you can't be."
Berkeley News