Michaella is from Burundi, and she was living in a refugee camp in Kenya when she first heard about a new U.S. program that allows refugees to come to America to attend college.
The Biden administration started the Welcome Corps on Campus program last year, and in August, 30 refugee students went directly to 17 colleges and universities across the United States.
The Trump administration has suspended the U.S. State Department-sponsored Welcome Corps on Campus program, and the program is currently not accepting any applications.
But last month, just a few days before Trump’s inauguration, Welcome Corps was able to transport 85 college-aged students, including Michaella, into the United States from refugee camps in Kenya and Jordan.
So Kenyans used to bully me because I’m not Kenyan. I am a refugee. And then I used to study hard because of that. I used to study hard so that I can go to Canada and change my life. But then I had the opportunity to come to the U.S. I’m so proud.Michaella, student
They’re all now living in Brattleboro, in what is the only program in the country that’s preparing refugee students for their eventual admission into American colleges.
“It is more than what I dreamed about,” Michaella said one recent afternoon on the School for International Training campus in Brattleboro, where the program is being held. “I mean, I used to say, ‘I want to go to Canada. I don’t want to live this life anymore.’ I was on a scholarship. I was in a boarding school. So Kenyans used to bully me because I’m not Kenyan. I am a refugee. And then I used to study hard because of that. I used to study hard so that I can go to Canada and change my life. But then I had the opportunity to come to the U.S. I’m so proud."
Before starting the college program, the Biden administration started Welcome Corps in 2023. It allows private citizens to donate their time, and money, to support refugee families here in the United States.
For years, refugee resettlement in the U.S. was built around organizations that bring in dozens or hundreds of refugees at a time.
The Welcome Corps model is different, and it allows small groups of American community members to sponsor and help a refugee family.
SIT, which has been providing international education in Vermont since 1964, shut down its on-campus classes in 2018.
And the SIT campus in Brattleboro, with a dining hall, classrooms and dorms, was used before for refugee resettlement when about 100 Afghan refugees lived there in 2022 until they were able to secure more long-term housing.
Michaella, who is 22 and wants to study data science, said this program was an opportunity to get out of the refugee camp in Kenya and start a new life in the U.S.
“I feel like I cannot forget for some refugees that went through the same thing that I went through,” she said. “I feel like I also need to help. My goal was to become like a sponsor one day one time. If I get the money I will also help some refugees who are not able to study because of money. I’ll help them achieve their dreams.”
The refugees will be learning English, and doing some college prep classes for six or seven months until they leave for college in August.
Because they are here under the sponsorship program, which is being paid for with private funding, and because they already have refugee status, they are apparently safe, for now, and administrators who are running the program expect all of the students to make their way to the college campuses in time for the fall semester.
Alex Beck, of Brattleboro, is involved with one of the sponsor groups that is working with a group of nine students. Beck said helping these students find their ways from the refugee camps in Jordan and Kenya to U.S. college campuses where they will hopefully spend the next four or five years is a way to stand up to the Trump agenda.
“They’ll be a positive impact on wherever they land in the United States, and to recognize the humanity in someone else, even if they’re just a college student here in Brattleboro in the summer, you know and then they get sent somewhere else, you know, that is part of a little bit of resistance,” he said. “And that is a way to combat what’s happening because everyone is uncertain."
The Welcome Corps on Campus program was extremely competitive.
A spokesperson for SIT said more than 3,000 students applied, and 85 were admitted.
Sidra, who is from Syria, is one of those students.
Of course it’s hard to leave your family. But if you don’t leave them to pursue a better future you’re going to struggle for the rest of your whole life, literally.Sidra, student
Sidra is almost 21, and she wants to study artificial intelligence.
The students in Brattleboro don’t know yet which college or university they will attend. They will find out in March where they’re headed.
Because of their ongoing refugee status, with the hope that they will be able to apply for citizenship, they cannot return home.
Sidra said she has accepted the uncertainty, and the very new life she has found herself in here in Vermont.
“Of course it’s hard to leave your family. But if you don’t leave them to pursue a better future you’re going to struggle for the rest of your whole life, literally,” Sidra said. “We are going to keep struggling until we die. So I’m gonna probably struggle for a while. But then I’m going to build a future for me, and then I’m gonna be able to help my family. So I’m going to change my life, so I don’t struggle until I die. So even if it was a challenge I’m up to it, actually."
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