I am a Latina with a Master’s degree. I am also a Latina that got diagnosed with depression only after I went through several breakdowns while getting that Master’s degree. I had been told by liberal parents since I was a small kid that the only way a Latina would make it in this world was if I got an education–and yet I found getting education to be one of the most sustained experiences of violence I’ve ever been a part of. I promise you right now, if I hadn’t had multiple Latina and women of color mentors helping me deal with the constant racism, classism, sexism, etc, that shows itself every single minute in academia, I would have given up after the semester.

At the same time, “getting and education” has provided me with precious little in terms of economic safety. I live in a state that has consistently lead the nation in terms of unemployment. The city that employs many people on my block is also a city that has almost 30% unemployment. Three people I know have been laid off in the last year alone, and I know almost nobody who has full time employment. A Master’s degree is almost a burden rather than a help–employers know they have to pay me more. So guess whose resume makes it into the reject pile first?

But in spite of all of this, I am very glad to see that somebody is taking the needs of Latinas in education seriously.

Even if there are no jobs for Latinas to go home to once they’ve finished school, a *good* high quality education that provides support and resources is probably one of the best things that could happen to a Latina. We need the words to describe our experiences, to understand how to negotiate our experiences. And if you live in city like I do, one where radicalism looks like “white, male, citizen,” you are never going to get the words you need on the street (Lucky folks in L.A. or in Texas!!! Ya’ll got community!). Unfortunately, we exist in a world where if you don’t have the “right words,” you very rarely are taken seriously. It also becomes doubly difficult to reach out to other marginalized communities to more effectively create alliances.

We are not stupid. White folks and men had to learn the words to play the game too. They’ve just had more resources and help for a longer period of time than we have. So they are better at playing the game–NOT SMARTER.

It’s good to see that institutions are beginning to realize this.

Check out the link for a whole bunch of resources, including a list of scholarships and a whole bunch of fact sheets!