Monica Campbell

Monica Campbell

Monica Campbell is The World’s immigration editor/reporter. She is based in San Francisco and has reported for The World from Mexico, Cuba, Portugal and Afghanistan, as well as California.

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California’s Store-Front Colleges Appeal to Immigrants

April 6, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment
Students at BioHealth College, a small, private vocational school in San Jose, California. (Photo: Monica Campbell)

Students at BioHealth College, a small, private vocational school in San Jose, California. (Photo: Monica Campbell)

Students at Oikos University in Oakland, California, are still waiting for their classes to resume.

A lone gunman killed seven people there on Monday – and police are still collecting evidence.

Though it’s called a university, Oikos does not have a large campus.

In fact, it’s part of an industry of small, private colleges that can often go unnoticed.

Sometimes classrooms are found in old storefronts.

Many of the students are immigrants looking for a professional foothold in the US as Monica Campbell reports.

Discussion

One comment for “California’s Store-Front Colleges Appeal to Immigrants”

  • richnsea

    I’ve work at these non-profit schools. Many students are not immigrants, but international students on student visas. Getting a sponsored student visa from these schools is likely their best shot at coming to America, even if the visa is temporary. It’s an expensive and lengthy process. Once here, they are restricted from working and not entitled to receive many social services.

    I can’t help but see that on one end, there are legal international students that shell out the big bucks, wait in a long line, and sacrifice employment, just for the opportunity of an American education.

    While on the other end, you have illegal/undocumented/unauthorized immigrants that demand in-state tuition, which by the way int’l students are never allowed, take “unwanted” jobs that depress American wages, and use social services.