By IZZY
Undocumented students are generally not authorized to work in the United States, though they may be able to pursue certain opportunities, such as independent contracting. In response to these constrained opportunities, many undocumented student resource centers (USRCs) across the country have implemented non-employment based opportunities (NEBOs) to support undocumented students. NEBOs generally allow undocumented students to complete internships or fellowships on or off campus in exchange for a stipend from the university. They represent a flexible, legal means of providing students financial compensation and professional experience. Colleges and universities can secure external funding from non-profit organizations to fund these internships/fellowships, or they can institutionalize programs internally.
Nevertheless, USRC staff may experience difficulty implementing and sustaining NEBOs if their office has limited resources or if their campus leadership is reluctant to sign off on these programs. For staff facing these challenges, research from the UndocuBasic Needs project indicates that using model policies from professional associations or peer institutions can help staff implement and protect NEBOs on their own campuses.
Based on interviews with 52 USRC staff or those in similar positions, participants explained several strategies that helped them implement supportive programs like NEBOs for students. One of these strategies was drawing on professional associations, such as the National Association for Student Personnel Administrators of the President’s Alliance, to better understand these policies and access model language and explanations. As Amanda, who worked at a small, private university explained, while she thought that non-employment based opportunities were something “our General Counsel might shut down,” her center’s NEBO policy actually “went through.” She explained how a model policy was essential for overcoming legal fears from the campus legal team by serving as a “blueprint for creating an unemployment based opportunity program on campus. And so we really used that blueprint. And it got us to the finish line.”
Staff also used the policies of their peer institutions to implement NEBOs. By using these schools as models, staff could efficiently create programs. However, staff also realized that by having the same policies as similarly situated schools, they could protect these programs from changes in leadership. After Amanda’s* policy got passed, she started to share her center’s NEBO policies with USRCs at other, similar schools. She was motivated to do this because, as she explained, “the more schools that do it, the less likely [my school] is to say, like, ‘oh, we actually don’t have enough money for that anymore.’ Like if it’s become best practice across the board, then we’re all going to be all set, you know?” Amanda realized that if enough campuses shared model programs, NEBOs at her school would be protected from internal changes in funding or leadership.
Ultimately, when staff draw on their professional network—whether that be advocacy organizations, conferences, or other schools—they can more effectively develop, implement, and sustain NEBOs for their undocumented students. This capacity becomes even more critical amid increasingly punitive immigration enforcement and shrinking resources, making it essential for colleges to implement and institutionalize protective policies that safeguard their undocumented student communities.
*Participants’ names have been replaced by pseudonyms.
IZZY is a doctoral student and ally. She previously worked with undocumented youth as a teacher. After leaving K-12 to complete her PhD, she now contributes to research on understanding and supporting undocumented students’ needs in and beyond higher education.
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Categories: Recommendations, Research, UndocuAlly
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