My name is Alexander Vallejos. I am a DACA recipient and a student at UCF, pursuing my bachelor's in computer science. Early last year, as many know, a tragic and unforeseen event happened to me that put my whole life on hold. I couldn't pay rent or bills for months, had to withdraw from all my classes that semester, and lost my job while facing huge lawyer fees and more.

When I tried to continue school, I found out that because Florida universities allow ICE on campus, my scholarship cut their partnership with my school. Then, Florida took away my access to in state tuition with a new law. Each class is now extremely expensive (~$3000), and at the time, I had seven classes left. Later, I found out my last four classes are past 120 credits, so those credit costs are multiplied, making them even more expensive ($5000 each class). I keep having to spread out the classes across semesters, pushing back my graduation more and more.

The truth is, I spent a lot of last year being at the worst mental state I've ever been in. I spent the whole year working so hard to recover from all that—recover mentally, recover from insane credit debt, recover my life. I try to be strong and keep myself happy, and I never stop working hard, pushing through, but the truth is I never fully recovered, especially financially. I had to pay $5000 again for one class this semester while still fully providing for myself. I still haven't recovered from so much debt I got put into last year, and with just two classes left, I can't afford to take a class next semester and need to push back my graduation again until 2027 to hopefully save up money.

All I want to do is finish my degree and live a simple life. I never stop working hard and I always give 110% to everything I do. I lost so much, all out of my control. All I ask for is to help me pay off one class so that I'm able to continue finishing my last two classes to graduate. Your support would mean the world to me and help me move forward.