Helping asylum seekers access education opportunities in New York City
RIF Education Adviser Tanzilya Oren during an education consultation with a RIF member in 2019.
RIF Education Adviser and Fordham University PhD candidate Tanzilya Oren joined our team in 2018. She works to help asylum seekers access higher education opportunities in New York City. Her support, on topics ranging from identifying the right school and program to obtaining private scholarships (a critical step because asylum seekers do not qualify for student loans), have been instrumental for those trapped in the multi-year asylum backlog. She helps asylum seekers make the best of their long, uncertain waiting period by pursuing their education and career goals. In helping asylum seekers achieve their dreams, Tanzilya has also pursued a dream of her own: launching a program to navigate the barriers to education access for asylum seekers. Read our interview with her to learn more.
Q: How did you decide that you wanted to get involved with education access for asylum seekers?
Since 2010, I have been a social educator, working as an adjunct lecturer in social policy and international issues such as migration and development. I have taught at Columbia University, NYU, CUNY, and Fordham. As an immigrant who got my second master’s degree in the United States, I have seen firsthand that education is one way for immigrants to re-enter or start new professional careers. I have also worked full-time serving new immigrants, first at the New Immigrant Workforce Project at the NYS Department of Labor and then managing a new initiative, the Andrew Romay New Immigrant Center at the English Speaking Union. I have met hundreds of new immigrants, many of them asylum seekers. Through these experiences it struck me: asylum seekers are excluded from many services and programs due to their “non-permanent” status. Meanwhile, many are stuck in legal limbo for years while they wait for their asylum decision and have the greatest need for integration support.
After seven years of teaching and working in immigrant services, I felt I could have a larger impact through research to advance policy change. I entered a PhD program at Fordham University. I was happy to discover that my old partner organization RIF held monthly community meetings right on Fordham’s campus. So, I started volunteering, stepping into the role of Education Adviser. With a focus on higher education opportunities, I began searching for admissions officers, scholarship administrators, and other universities’ contact people who might help asylum seekers. Through colleagues and friends, I got to know the wonderful CUNY admissions officer Anastassiya Maximenko. I represented RIF at a new NYU initiative called the Collaborative for New Immigrant Education. I also connected with the program officers in charge of Columbia’s new scholarship for displaced students. Finally, I revived old relationships, including several at World Education Services, which helped me navigate my own degree evaluation when I immigrated 11 years ago. With each new resource and relationship, RIF’s Education Program has become more established. It was a great hallmark of the program to gather all of these partners together in person at a panel at Fordham in February 2020, which drew over 100 participants.
Watch a recording of our February 2020 panel with representatives from Columbia University’s Scholarship for Displaced Students, CUNY, NYU, and WES.
Q. Thanks to a relationship that you cultivated with a private donor, over a dozen asylum seekers in RIF’s network have secured full-ride scholarships. How did you establish the relationship?
A. In addition to reaching out to my personal and professional network to learn about resources, I also conducted an exhaustive search of scholarships and grants. I found only one program that funded scholarships for refugees and asylum seekers. So I contacted the program. They replied and invited me for lunch, and from there the relationship started. I now make it my practice to regularly browse university and college websites to find new scholarship opportunities for asylum seekers, like Columbia’s which launched in early 2020.
Q. Could you tell us a little bit about some of the asylum seekers you’ve worked with who’ve received scholarships?
The asylum seekers I’ve worked with who received funding are dedicated and persistent. For example, Mohamed, a Pakistani asylum seeker, was determined to become an aviation mechanical engineer. It starts with the dream. The rest are details. I helped Mohamed search for colleges that offered the degree he wanted, begin collecting his documents for the application, including copies of school diplomas and transcripts (which can be difficult for asylum seekers to secure), entrance exam results, and recommendation letters. I also help them write their application essays. The process is technical, but it requires several months to collect and prepare a solid application. Another scholarship recipient was recently admitted to Columbia School of Journalism. A few recipients are studying in pre-nursing programs. The asylum seekers whom we’ve helped with essays, recommendation letters, and finding scholarships over the past two years are our pride and glory. I say "our" because it's a collective effort of RIF volunteers who help with writing, funding, and moral support. "RIF students"' semester transcripts are shining testaments to their commitment and dedication to achieving their goals.
Q: Why is education access important for asylum seekers who have not received a final decision on their asylum case?
In my experience, college and university studies boost asylum seekers' confidence and morale. In the long and lonely process of applying for asylum, waiting for years for your case to be heard, many people lose their footing. It is demoralizing and stressful to be in an immigration limbo for months let alone three, four, or five years--the length of time it takes to get a higher education degree! Going to school gives asylum seekers a supportive and engaged community, a new network, a purpose in life, and a feeling that they’re taking their next steps. Despite the strides that RIF’s program has made, organizations need special funding and support to expand education access for asylum seekers. Through my work at RIF, I am trying to push for better access for asylum seekers to higher education and make their challenges visible.