By The-Anh Nguyen, Northwest Asian Weekly
unaffordable college
What does the word “college” mean to a former refugee?
Maybe you were that kid who got nothing for Christmas and nothing for your birthdays. Maybe you and your family are refugees or immigrants. You may be a victim of poverty and unfortunate circumstances.
How do you break free from poverty? By creating more hope and finding more opportunities! How does a kid from a poor family become a lawyer, a doctor, or the greatest humanitarian ever? By obtaining the right knowledge and meeting the right teachers. For me, that teacher was my father, Vien.
My father was an attorney in Vietnam. Because of his former political background, the communist government wouldn’t let him practice law freely. He had to ask for permission to represent clients in trials. Since he couldn’t be a full-time lawyer, he worked as a human resource manager by day, and provided pro bono legal counsel work, out of our house, after work and on weekends.
As refugees from Vietnam, my parents were clueless about America’s education system. In 2001, I was a senior at West Seattle High School. I had dreams of attending one of the colleges I’d seen in the movies. I wanted to live in a dorm room and meet new friends. Then reality hit when I got a low SAT score and barely passed the Compass test at the local community college.
I had to ask my poor father for $98 to pay for catching up in algebra class, because my high school did not properly prepare me for college courses. My dream of going out of state for college was shattered. However, I was still able to go to college because of a one-year full ride scholarship for North Seattle Community College, where I got accepted in 2001.
Because my English writing score on the Compass wasn’t high enough, my financial aid and my scholarship wouldn’t pay for makeup classes. For the next two years, I paid for my tuition for non-college level classes with my credit cards.
After graduating from North Seattle Community College, I enrolled in Central Washington University. Because of my full-time work schedule and maxed out credit cards. I had to drop out after the first quarter.
Read the full article by The-Anh Nguyen from Northwest Asian Weekly.
