Immigrants are underrepresented in tech? I don’t think so. Actually, I propose less H-1Bs and more effort to recruit women in the US.
For females students, there are some other groups that provide excellent classes with scholarships for those that can’t pay. I’m a fan of `Girl Develop It’: http://www.girldevelopit.com/ which is more of a learning community than a collection of isolated classes with transient students. Instructors are top quality, young, enthuriastic and dedicated. They integrate pair-programming (I think the best way to learn for a noob) and problem-based activities. For those that opt to pay, prices are reasonable (20$ for an evening, 100$ or so for a 2 day weekend workshop).
Also, it’s so well thought out in terms of translating to jobs that they even have a class to prep for technical interviews (white-boarding). Here’s where someone with the skills and know-how can easily choke.
If you have any female students looking for these types of offers, there’s many other places too. Meetup.com is a GREAT place to start looking.
http://www.meetup.com/