Education barriers outlined

This report shows what is needed to get more immigrants able to qualify for college. First is better English skills. DP

Immigrants need boosts to college

By Jacqueline Reis TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

www.telegram.com: WORCESTER— Area schools, colleges, businesses, policy-makers and organizations will have to work together to lower the barriers between immigrants and college educations, according to a recent task force report from The Colleges of Worcester Consortium.

A massive infusion of money aimed at smoothing the path to education for immigrants is the other way to lower the barriers, according to report information.

The report from the Consortium Task Force on Immigration and Higher Education in Central Massachusetts identifies needs such as English language courses (about 3,200 people are on waiting lists for English classes in Central Massachusetts) and a better understanding of the dozens of ways immigrants can be legally in the United States without a green card or citizenship.

Many of Worcester’s immigrants are coming from different parts of the world as opposed to those coming to the state as a whole. The city’s foreign-born population rose 66.5 percent between 1990 and 2000, and the largest numbers of immigrants arriving now are from Ghana, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Kenya, El Salvador, Albania and Liberia. For the state as a whole, in contrast, the largest numbers of immigrants are coming from Brazil, Portugal, China, the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

The consortium report doesn’t distinguish between legal and illegal, or undocumented, immigrants.
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