A debt-free college for students who struggle most

” I was wondering, 'When is it going to be my last day?'” Sonia told CNN. “I wasn't living. I was surviving.” The ruthless gangs in her native Guatemala had her in the crosshairs during her early teenage years, she said, following her and threatening her in the street. Sonia, who asked CNN to change her name because she fears for her safety, said they threatened her mother, as well. “They told her, 'We are going to rape your daughters,' ” Sonia said. As menacing messages followed, her parents fled north to the United States. Sonia and her two younger sisters were put up for adoption at an orphanage. At 16, she made her own desperate decision to journey from Guatemala to the United States. At 16, she made her own desperate decision to journey from Guatemala to the United States. “My father, he almost died in the desert and my mother got kidnapped in Mexico, and I still decided to take the risk,” Sonia said. Surviving the six-month voyage, some of it by foot, from Guatemala City to Chicago only strengthened her determination to achieve her American dream. She wanted to become the first in her family to earn a college degree, she said. But as she prepared to graduate from high school with a 4.1 GPA, Sonia's heart sank at the realization that as an undocumented immigrant she would qualify for little to no college financial aid.