Partner Spotlight: Arizona’s Future Fellowship
Aliento’s fellowship program helps improve college access for undocumented students in Arizona
Angel Palazuelos was set to graduate from Metro Tech High School in May 2020 at a time when undocumented students like him were not eligible for in-state tuition in Arizona, even though he had been living in the state since was 4 years old.
His options to pay for college were also very limited. He didn’t qualify for state or federal financial aid because of his immigration status. To make matters worse, he couldn’t get a work permit or social security number under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, because he got to the United States three days after the cutoff date to qualify.
“One of my biggest worries was not being able to pursue higher education,” Palazuelos said.
Instead of giving up, he remained resilient.
Aliento fellows took in-state tuition push to lawmakers
Palazuelos did everything he could to earn private scholarships, including challenging himself academically, receiving good grades and getting perfect attendance. He felt that was the only way he would be able to pay for college.
Wanting to do even more, he met with state lawmakers in January 2020 to urge them to support legislation that would allow him and other undocumented students in Arizona to pay in-state tuition. He did so through the Arizona’s Future Fellowship organized by the nonprofit Aliento, which is headquartered on the Helios Education Campus in Phoenix.
“There were eight people in my cohort, and all of us became very invested in getting in-state tuition for undocumented students,” Palazuelos said. “We organized an education day at the state capitol and brought more than 300 students to advocate for this.”
The nine-month fellowship program is supported financially by Helios Education Foundation. It provides peer-to-peer mentoring and leadership training for high school and college students. Between five and 20 students have been part of each cohort.
Participants are typically from mixed immigration status families and are the first in their family to go to college. They identify barriers they feel are making it difficult for students to pursue postsecondary education and work with school clubs or on-campus hubs they create to remove those barriers.
Aliento founder recounts Prop. 308 passing in Arizona
“The push for in-state tuition for undocumented students really started back in 2018 with our five student fellows who said, ‘Can we do something about this? Yes, we get scholarships and can pay in-state tuition. But what about our peers who are undocumented?’” explained Reyna Montoya, founder and CEO of Aliento.
Montoya added the first cohort of Arizona’s Future Fellowship was laser focused on getting in-state tuition back for undocumented students. When their efforts came up short, they passed the baton to the next cohorts who carried on the push. They were eventually joined by a bipartisan coalition of education, business, faith and civic leaders.
In November 2022, their efforts paid off when Arizona voters approved Proposition 308, allowing undocumented students to once again be eligible for in-state tuition as well as state financial aid.
“When we actually heard the news of it passing, there was a group of about 50 of us who had gathered at the Aliento office here at the Helios Education Campus,” Montoya recalled. “We facetimed former fellows who are now college students studying in California, Washington, D.C., and other places.”
“They were able to see, ‘I made a difference,” she continued. “Even though I’m not physically here, I helped to make this happen to support the education journey of future students.”
How Prop. 308 improved Angel’s college experience
Arizona voters approving Prop. 308 enabled Palazuelos to in January start paying in-state tuition at Arizona State University, which he had mostly been covering with private scholarships. He’s a senior majoring in biomedical engineering and plans to attend law school to become an immigration attorney.
“It honestly felt so surreal,” he said. “It’s a very big win for all of us.”
Angel is one of the potential 65,000 Dreamers who can now benefit from an equitable access to higher education. Aliento and its fellows commit to continue advocating to remove systemic barriers that prevent Dreamers and students from mixed immigrations status families from thriving in the classroom and beyond.
Helios Education Foundation supported the passage of Prop. 308 and the efforts by Aliento to help get it across the finish line. It helps make college more attainable for thousands of undocumented students in Arizona, which aligns with our work to increase postsecondary enrollment and completion in Arizona.
All photos courtesy of Aliento and Angel Palazuelos