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Impact Story

Thanks to a Game-Changing Loan, Homero is in Medical School

Impact Investments, , Workforce & Economic Mobility

HEAR FROM HOMERO

“Every day I wake up and I can’t believe I’m here.”

This story has been adapted from Forbes.

Homero, 23, moved with his family from a border town in Mexico to Texas when he was just three. Growing up in Laredo, he decided he wanted to become an osteopath. But, like other Dreamers, he didn’t have access to Pell Grants or federal student loans to attend college, much less medical school.

Homero was awarded a scholarship from a program for immigrant youth called TheDream.US to attend the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. But medical school still seemed out of reach. So he took a job teaching science in his hometown, figuring he’d work and somehow save money for tuition.

A year later, he got some good news: TheDream.US, in partnership with Social Finance, was piloting a new initiative called the Dreamers Graduate Loan Program, a graduate school loan program for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients who want to pursue professional degrees but can’t access public loan programs due to their immigration status.

As soon as he could, Homero applied and received a loan covering his cost of attendance at an interest rate comparable to federal loans. He’s now attending medical school at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine.

“Every day I wake up and I can’t believe I’m here,” Homero said.

Photo courtesy of TheDream.US.

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