My name is Marisol Conde-Hernandez. The above video is the first episode of a serial documentary about my family and I, produced by Talking Eyes Media and a project of Newest Americans .
I have a deep-rooted, long term commitment to social justice & civil rights and I joined the Rutgers School of Law to become a more effective advocate.
I graduated from Rutgers University, summa cum laude, in 2011 with a B.A. in Sociology & a minor in Women’s & Gender Studies. I co-founded the New Jersey Dream Act Coalition prior to law school and currently serve as co-chair of the Immigrant Rights Collective and as a Marsha Wenk Public Interest Law Fellow at the law school. I am Treasurer of the Evening Students Association and a proud member of the Minority Student Program .
My advocacy, public service, and leadership has been recognized by several organizations, including my two alma maters, Middlesex County College , Rutgers University , and even the New Jersey General Assembly . I am dedicated to social justice lawyering and I want to use my legal career to serve and advocate on behalf of the under-represented and disadvantaged.
In the summer of 2015, I had an extraordinary opportunity at social justice lawyering. I served as summer counsel at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau , the nation's oldest student-run non-profit that provides free civil legal services to low-income Boston residents. Two organizations, RU Law's Public Interest Law Foundation and the Equal Justice America, awarded me with fellowships that enabled me to relocate to Cambridge/Boston for three months. There, I managed about ten housing and wage/hour cases and I worked at a restaurant part-time. I was so lucky to work alongside City Life/Vida Urbana (CLVU), an outstanding grassroots organization fighting gentrification in Boston and mobilizing communities against displacement. My clients there, and the staff at CLVU, reinvigorated my commitment to my study of law. The second installment of Newest Americans captures a bit of that summer, and you can watch it here .
I am raising money to help me pay for the cost of law school, bar prep and study, and the NJ and NY bar exams. I sent several administrators an email in the Fall 2015 semester to explain why I need assistance, so now I invite you to read it as well:
"I am undocumented. My parents and I entered the United States in 1988 when I was a year old. We have only lived in New Jersey since our arrival almost thirty years ago. I have been open about my status since childhood and I have been public about my story for about ten years. A Rutgers- Newark project, Newest Americans, is the most recent platform to share my experience via a multi-part, serial documentary.
There are approximately 2 million undocumented young adults like myself who entered the United States as children. Various research organizations estimate that only about 5-10% of undocumented high school graduates go on to college. Far fewer proceed towards a graduate program. In fact, based on a national list-serve created exclusively for undocumented law school students, there are fewer than 30 of us (known) nationwide. We are in California, Florida, New York, New Mexico, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Texas, District of Columbia, Michigan, and Illinois. Only three jurisdictions- California, Florida, and New York- have addressed whether undocumented law school graduates can practice law. All three of those states now admit undocumented law graduates to practice under varying criteria.
I am the first undocumented law school student in the State of New Jersey, and the only one so far*[There's another undocumented law student in NJ, but I will not 'out' that individual without his/her consent. I am still poised to be the first undocumented law school graduate in 2017.] But for the following financial constraints, I would not have such a difficult time paying for school:
I pay for law school out-of-pocket because I am ineligible for all forms of publicly financed and/or subsidized financial aid, including federal and state loans and grants. I am ineligible because those prominent and popular means of financing higher education are available only to U.S. Citizens and Legal Permanent Residents. I am neither a U.S. Citizen (USC) nor a Legal Permanent Resident (LPR); rather, I am undocumented/unauthorized. I still have no legal status under immigration law despite possessing valid work authorization through Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
Private loans through financial institutions like Wells Fargo and Bank of America also require applicants to be USCs or LPRs. Even if those institutions allowed me to apply, it would be very unlikely for the banks to offer me a loan because I do not have the requisite credit or assets to qualify. Undocumented/unauthorized immigrants who never (or until very recently) had a Social Security Number, like me, cannot establish the qualifying credit so quickly. I could list a co-signer who is a USC or LPR on an application, but I do not have family members who are either willing or eligible. Both my parents are also undocumented/unauthorized and cannot apply. My only adult sibling lacks good credit and she has four children of her own to sustain.
Therefore, I can only pay for school out-of-pocket and I can only enroll for the amount of credits I can afford. The amount of credits I can afford is offset by my living expenses: whereas many of my peers “live at home” and are spared living expenses, I live alone. Even if I lived with a family member, my family is working-poor and cannot afford to help me. I have been financially independent since the age of seventeen, and I have assisted and continue to assist them however I can.
Currently, I bartend and manage at a brewpub in New Brunswick and there are several factors contributing to my reduced income- over 90% of my income comes from tips. As a result, I dropped my health insurance coverage to afford the costs of transportation. I’ve applied to scholarships, and Nicky Fornarotto of Financial Aid has been the most helpful person on campus, but I continue to struggle every semester.
As an undergraduate, my exceptional GPA, a 3.9, justified the University’s decision to pay the last two years of my program. Unfortunately, my law school GPA is deplorable. I attribute my sub-par performance- and the consequent loss of my partial academic scholarship- to the year-long depression that afflicted me in my first year. I paid out-of-pocket to seek professional help and I have since recovered. My GPA does not reflect my intellect and neither does it predict my potential as an attorney: Internship supervisors, practicing attorneys, faculty and staff can attest to my abilities and skills.
I need help financing this semester and the rest of my time at Rutgers Law School. Every other undocumented law school student receives aid. A few schools provided full tuition scholarships to their respective undocumented law school student. Another student took out an institutional loan from his/her private law school. I do not know how Rutgers University can help me now.
I defer to you and the administration's decisions. I would gladly meet to brainstorm solutions. "
In my two years between my undergrad and law school, I started a scholarship in honor of my parents at Rutgers University to financially assist immigrant students. While I can no longer maintain that commitment now- as I am the one in need- I fully intend on paying it forward and resuming my donations to assist other similarly-situated students once I graduate.
All money raised will go directly to pay for tuition, a bar prep course, and the bar exam itself. Your help will enable me to save money so I can take some time off work to exclusively study for the bar exam in 2017.
Thank you for learning about me. Thank you for sharing. And especially thank you for donating. No donation is too small. <3
Additionally, you're welcome to peruse some of the following media/press coverage of me and my work:
Feature in Rutgers SAS Alumni Newsletter March 2013
Video: Featured on Due Process' "DREAM Act- One Step Closer" August 2012
NJ Star Ledger Article about DACA August 2012
Video: Featured on Due Process' "DREAM Act: Dead or Deferred?" April 2011
Video: Addressing Princeton Democrats 2010
NYT Article about NJ In-State Tuition Bill April 2009
NYT Article about Mexicans in NJ April 2006
#GFMScholarship
I have a deep-rooted, long term commitment to social justice & civil rights and I joined the Rutgers School of Law to become a more effective advocate.
I graduated from Rutgers University, summa cum laude, in 2011 with a B.A. in Sociology & a minor in Women’s & Gender Studies. I co-founded the New Jersey Dream Act Coalition prior to law school and currently serve as co-chair of the Immigrant Rights Collective and as a Marsha Wenk Public Interest Law Fellow at the law school. I am Treasurer of the Evening Students Association and a proud member of the Minority Student Program .
My advocacy, public service, and leadership has been recognized by several organizations, including my two alma maters, Middlesex County College , Rutgers University , and even the New Jersey General Assembly . I am dedicated to social justice lawyering and I want to use my legal career to serve and advocate on behalf of the under-represented and disadvantaged.
In the summer of 2015, I had an extraordinary opportunity at social justice lawyering. I served as summer counsel at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau , the nation's oldest student-run non-profit that provides free civil legal services to low-income Boston residents. Two organizations, RU Law's Public Interest Law Foundation and the Equal Justice America, awarded me with fellowships that enabled me to relocate to Cambridge/Boston for three months. There, I managed about ten housing and wage/hour cases and I worked at a restaurant part-time. I was so lucky to work alongside City Life/Vida Urbana (CLVU), an outstanding grassroots organization fighting gentrification in Boston and mobilizing communities against displacement. My clients there, and the staff at CLVU, reinvigorated my commitment to my study of law. The second installment of Newest Americans captures a bit of that summer, and you can watch it here .
I am raising money to help me pay for the cost of law school, bar prep and study, and the NJ and NY bar exams. I sent several administrators an email in the Fall 2015 semester to explain why I need assistance, so now I invite you to read it as well:
"I am undocumented. My parents and I entered the United States in 1988 when I was a year old. We have only lived in New Jersey since our arrival almost thirty years ago. I have been open about my status since childhood and I have been public about my story for about ten years. A Rutgers- Newark project, Newest Americans, is the most recent platform to share my experience via a multi-part, serial documentary.
There are approximately 2 million undocumented young adults like myself who entered the United States as children. Various research organizations estimate that only about 5-10% of undocumented high school graduates go on to college. Far fewer proceed towards a graduate program. In fact, based on a national list-serve created exclusively for undocumented law school students, there are fewer than 30 of us (known) nationwide. We are in California, Florida, New York, New Mexico, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Texas, District of Columbia, Michigan, and Illinois. Only three jurisdictions- California, Florida, and New York- have addressed whether undocumented law school graduates can practice law. All three of those states now admit undocumented law graduates to practice under varying criteria.
I am the first undocumented law school student in the State of New Jersey, and the only one so far*[There's another undocumented law student in NJ, but I will not 'out' that individual without his/her consent. I am still poised to be the first undocumented law school graduate in 2017.] But for the following financial constraints, I would not have such a difficult time paying for school:
I pay for law school out-of-pocket because I am ineligible for all forms of publicly financed and/or subsidized financial aid, including federal and state loans and grants. I am ineligible because those prominent and popular means of financing higher education are available only to U.S. Citizens and Legal Permanent Residents. I am neither a U.S. Citizen (USC) nor a Legal Permanent Resident (LPR); rather, I am undocumented/unauthorized. I still have no legal status under immigration law despite possessing valid work authorization through Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
Private loans through financial institutions like Wells Fargo and Bank of America also require applicants to be USCs or LPRs. Even if those institutions allowed me to apply, it would be very unlikely for the banks to offer me a loan because I do not have the requisite credit or assets to qualify. Undocumented/unauthorized immigrants who never (or until very recently) had a Social Security Number, like me, cannot establish the qualifying credit so quickly. I could list a co-signer who is a USC or LPR on an application, but I do not have family members who are either willing or eligible. Both my parents are also undocumented/unauthorized and cannot apply. My only adult sibling lacks good credit and she has four children of her own to sustain.
Therefore, I can only pay for school out-of-pocket and I can only enroll for the amount of credits I can afford. The amount of credits I can afford is offset by my living expenses: whereas many of my peers “live at home” and are spared living expenses, I live alone. Even if I lived with a family member, my family is working-poor and cannot afford to help me. I have been financially independent since the age of seventeen, and I have assisted and continue to assist them however I can.
Currently, I bartend and manage at a brewpub in New Brunswick and there are several factors contributing to my reduced income- over 90% of my income comes from tips. As a result, I dropped my health insurance coverage to afford the costs of transportation. I’ve applied to scholarships, and Nicky Fornarotto of Financial Aid has been the most helpful person on campus, but I continue to struggle every semester.
As an undergraduate, my exceptional GPA, a 3.9, justified the University’s decision to pay the last two years of my program. Unfortunately, my law school GPA is deplorable. I attribute my sub-par performance- and the consequent loss of my partial academic scholarship- to the year-long depression that afflicted me in my first year. I paid out-of-pocket to seek professional help and I have since recovered. My GPA does not reflect my intellect and neither does it predict my potential as an attorney: Internship supervisors, practicing attorneys, faculty and staff can attest to my abilities and skills.
I need help financing this semester and the rest of my time at Rutgers Law School. Every other undocumented law school student receives aid. A few schools provided full tuition scholarships to their respective undocumented law school student. Another student took out an institutional loan from his/her private law school. I do not know how Rutgers University can help me now.
I defer to you and the administration's decisions. I would gladly meet to brainstorm solutions. "
In my two years between my undergrad and law school, I started a scholarship in honor of my parents at Rutgers University to financially assist immigrant students. While I can no longer maintain that commitment now- as I am the one in need- I fully intend on paying it forward and resuming my donations to assist other similarly-situated students once I graduate.
All money raised will go directly to pay for tuition, a bar prep course, and the bar exam itself. Your help will enable me to save money so I can take some time off work to exclusively study for the bar exam in 2017.
Thank you for learning about me. Thank you for sharing. And especially thank you for donating. No donation is too small. <3
Additionally, you're welcome to peruse some of the following media/press coverage of me and my work:
Feature in Rutgers SAS Alumni Newsletter March 2013
Video: Featured on Due Process' "DREAM Act- One Step Closer" August 2012
NJ Star Ledger Article about DACA August 2012
Video: Featured on Due Process' "DREAM Act: Dead or Deferred?" April 2011
Video: Addressing Princeton Democrats 2010
NYT Article about NJ In-State Tuition Bill April 2009
NYT Article about Mexicans in NJ April 2006
#GFMScholarship