Announcer: Walking into a new environment without knowing or barely understanding the language can be overwhelming and uncomfortable situation, especially when you are applying to enter in college. Fortunately, for Latino students and families who don't speak English very well, the dream of attending an American college or university is always within reach.
Delia Tijerina: Some of the common misconceptions when trying to get into the university I think is that that the institution doesn't want them. Sometimes students pull themselves out or reject themselves rather, and I think that that's a large misconception that they are not going to be admitted.
Maria Frias: There are a lot of college or universities, sometimes community colleges that offer such program. So they also a program so that you can learn how to speak English.
Announcer: From tutoring to mentoring, more and more campuses across United States are offering programs that helps students learn and adapt to an English speaking environment while continuing their studies.
Maria Frias: like the Lehigh University in Pennsylvania that has a program called Boosta which -- that program allows a person who doesn't speak any English to start the bachelor's program, and they learn English as they go, and the classes are taught in Spanish in the first year, then a little bit bilingual in the second year, and by the third year, they translation into the English program.
Announcer: Some colleges and universities even start earlier than your first year, reaching out to students as early as the eighth and ninth grade with programs like.
Delia Tijerina: Upward bound program, gear up program, trio program. We help meet with students, we do pear mentoring, and then we offer programs like college making it happen.
Announcer: Applying to an attending college is a complicated and dynamic process, and it's very natural to feel over whelmed. But don't worry there are additional bilingual resources out there to help you.
We have a pay for college bus tour and what we do is we go into the community and educate families. We do that bilingually. We have on our website you can get our Spanish hot-line where we have operators that will speak to you in Spanish. So there are lots of services available for the Spanish.
For many families and students, the most difficult part of college is figuring out how to pay for it. So if you don't speak English, there are financial programs and websites that are available in both languages.
Sergio Sanchez: 2Futuro is the only Spanish based bilingual, loan and average program that enables parents and students to apply online in Spanish or in English and learn about the steps needed to pay, to apply for financial aid, to obtain scholarships programs, and to really succeed in the process of achieving access to a college or a university of your choice.
Announcer: But figuring up the first step of breaking the language barrier during your college years may be the hardest step of all. Always remember, support is never too far away.
Adela Lopez: I would encourage them to try to find a friend on that campus, locate somebody on that campus. If you don't have a person, I would always start out with a program, look for programs that on that campus are like Puente.
Announcer: And once you do enroll and participate in a program that teaches you English, don't forget to spread the word to your friends and family.
Adela Lopez: Students like themselves are great recruiters, the best recruiters. I think they are effective because they often times communicate in both languages, and I always tell them, don't just tell them get here, bring them here. And we are asking them to bring their brother and sisters, their friends, their family, particularly their moms and dads, their grandmas and grandpas, because all of them and in fact are going to be their support, network, and system to get them to school.
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