Eighteen-year-old Nienke Schouten is a typical American teenager. She worked hard in school and looked forward to a fun summer before going away to U.C. Berkeley in the fall.

But unlike other students, Schouten's dream was stopped short because she is not a citizen of the United States.

The graduate of Santa Clara High School in Oxnard came to the United States with her family from the Netherlands. "The U.S. had been my home for 12 years and is all I have known," she says. "I speak the language and practice the traditions."

She said her elation at being accepted to Cal Berkeley turned to depression when she learned that without permanent residence status she would not be eligible for any financial aid, a burden her family cannot afford. "We are not criminals; we only want better lives," she says. "Let us contribute to society by going to college."

Schouten was one of the many students and supporters who participated in a June 1 rally at UCLA to support the passage of congressional bills that would grant legal residency to qualified immigrant students. Called the DREAM Act, activists are lobbying lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives to schedule the bills for vote during the current term of congress.

The legislation would permit high school graduates conditional legal status for six years during which they must earn a degree from a qualified institution of higher learning or serve at least two years in the armed forces. After meeting these requirements they will become eligible for permanent residency status.

The UCLA rally, organized by a multiethnic group of students, religious organizations and concerned citizens, took place on the site where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke in 1965 advocating for civil rights during his "I Have A Dream" campaign. The event included a mock graduation of 65 students to represent the 65,000 undocumented students who will graduate from U.S. high schools this year.

"There are a great number of parents here without legal status and their children see no hope for their future here in the United States," said Jesuit Father Charley Piatt, associate pastor at Our Lady of Victory and Sacred Heart Churches in Compton. "The point of the Gospels is to provide hope and this will help give hope to the youth in our parish."

Father Piatt and 19 members of the parish came out to the rally to support passage of the legislation. One of those members was 20-year-old Arecelia Ramirez who attends Compton Community College.

Ramirez noted that because of the increasing costs of tuition she is often only able to take two classes per semester because that is all her family can afford. Despite her low income she is not eligible for any form of financial aid because she does not have a green card.

"I come from a family of 14 brothers and sisters and I am the only one who made it to college. Because I don't have a social security card I can only get babysitting jobs and I can't get any financial aid to help pay for college," she said. "It is hard but I will continue to struggle to do the best I can and to fight for passage of the DREAM Act."

Even for those undocumented immigrants who can afford the cost of tuition the struggle doesn't end with a college diploma. Even after graduation these highly qualified students cannot work legally in professional jobs if they have not managed to attain legal residence.

Speaker Ricardo Lopez, a recent honors graduate from UCLA in molecular biology told how his dream of medical school has been put on hold because of his residence status.

"I came here when I was eight-years-old and graduated from high school and college with honors," he said. "Give us the means to go to school to become the doctors, the lawyers, the engineers. I can't now because I don't have a little piece of paper in my wallet that says I'm an American citizen. But I will do it even if it takes 50 years."

Karla Merino, a UCLA linguistics graduate from El Salvador told how she felt like a fool seeing all her high school friends go to Ivy League schools and knowing these doors were closed to her despite her impressive high school record.

"I studied hard all those years and I couldn't go to the schools I was accepted to because I was undocumented. I had to attend community college [then transfer to UCLA]," she said. "UCLA has been nothing but heartache because I went through all my years here knowing I couldn't contribute to society after graduating."

Merino received her green card in the months before she graduated but says it still angers her to see so many of her peers in the same situation explaining "this green card is too little too late."

"This is not only an immigration issue but an economic issue," said Merino. "Our parents pay taxes the same as yours but we are not eligible for any of the benefits. It's a lie that we are taking something from society."