A few days before winter break, Linda McGee, a college counselor at Los Angeles Unified Downtown Magnets High School, received an unexpected visit from a student’s father.
The man, a warehouse worker who immigrated from Guatemala 28 years ago, wanted Maggie to know first-hand what he wanted.
“My daughter going to college is more important than the risk of me being deported,” he said in Spanish, with a high school senior interpreting for him.
He helped the U.S.-born teen fill out the FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which college-bound students use to calculate their all-important financial aid packages. I insisted that he have it. However, the application asks for the parents’ Social Security numbers, which the father does not have because he is not a legal resident. The missing number could be a red flag about the father’s immigration status ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to track down and deport illegal immigrants.
“Unfortunately, there are dozens of students in the same situation,” McGee said. “They have to choose between their future and their parents’ future.”
Submitting financial aid forms during college application season is a potentially life-changing decision for a California high school senior whose parents are in the United States illegally. Many college students also face this predicament, as they typically need to submit a FAFSA form annually to determine continued aid.
The Department of Education, which administers the FAFSA, which is used to calculate Pell grants, federal loans, and other student aid funds, typically does not share immigration status data with other government agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But college counselors and financial aid organizations recently told students from mixed-status families, many of whom are low-income and could benefit most from federal aid, that they are still at risk. .
A recent notice from the National College Attainment Network, a nonprofit student advocacy group, states that the Higher Education Act “prohibits the use of data for any purpose other than determining and awarding federal financial aid.” However, it added, “We cannot guarantee mixed-status students and families that the data submitted to the U.S. Department of Education as part of the FAFSA process will continue to be protected.”
Daisy Gonzalez, executive director of the California Student Aid Commission, the state agency responsible for administering financial aid programs, urged caution as well.
“I can’t speculate about what the next federal administration will do,” she said.
The uncertainty over federal financial aid comes after more than a year of complications involving the FAFSA, which is typically released each October. The shortened version of the 2023-24 FAFSA was supposed to streamline the process, but it was fraught with glitches, data entry issues and delays amid growing frustration from students and families who had to wait to apply. The Board of Audit announced that the fiasco caused a 9% drop in the number of first-time filers last year.
The number of applicants through December is down 9.6% compared to the same period last year, according to tracking by the National College Attainment Network. It’s unclear how much of that is due to concerns about disclosure of immigration status.
About 3.3 million people in California live in mixed-status households, according to USC’s Equity Institute. About one in five are children under 18, like the student whose father came to McGee’s office at Downtown Magnets High School.
One of the top students in her class, she lives in Koreatown with her parents and dreams of one day working in the film industry. She has applied to UCLA, Stanford, Cornell, and several California State University campuses. However, she has paused filing the FAFSA due to concerns it could harm her family.
“Why does the election of Trump mean I have to suffer as a citizen because of the choices my parents made to live a better life in America?” Students asked to identify their parents. He said he requested that his name not be used to protect himself.
Her father sees things differently. “Filling out the FAFSA may or may not harm me. But if it can help her, she should do it,” he said in an interview. .
President Trump has promised to begin deporting millions of illegal immigrants on his “first day” in office. In a recent interview with NBC, he said Americans living in mixed-status households could also join relatives to avoid “family separation.”
This statement, coupled with campaign promises on deportation, caused widespread distress.
Gonzalez said information submitted through the FAFSA “can be shared across federal agencies, including federal immigration enforcement.”
He also said the California Dream Act application will be available to students from mixed-status families who need state aid, such as the University of California Grant, to attend the University of California, California State University and community colleges in the state. Also mentioned.
But the application excludes students from a wide range of cash, including work and study assistance, available from federal aid, Los Angeles-area high school and college counselors said.
“The best way to get the most aid is for students to apply for everything they’re eligible for,” said Jacqueline Villatoro, a college counselor at Linda Marquez High School in Huntington Park. The high school’s students include several Americans whose parents are in the country illegally.
“But things changed with Trump’s election,” she says. “How do we provide accurate information to families but not create fear? Many of us are just in wait-and-see mode.”
“Because some parents file taxes anyway, the government already has information about their immigration status and they want their children to apply for assistance,” Villatoro said. Ta. “Some people come to us because they’re scared.”
Federal financial aid is not available to students who do not have U.S. citizenship or other government authorization to reside in the United States. Although the FAFSA does not explicitly ask for the immigration status of a student’s parents or guardians, students who do not have a Social Security number must take additional steps in their application.
California universities generally encourage students to apply for state and federal aid by March 2nd.
This will give parents and students 41 days after President Trump takes office to consider whether and how immigration enforcement will affect their families.
“It’s an anxiety-inducing waiting game,” said another Downtown Magnets High School student, a senior who is applying to attend Cal State and Cal State campuses as well as Wellesley College.
The student, an American citizen, requested that his name be withheld to avoid identifying his father and mother, who are illegal immigrants from Puebla, Mexico. She aims to become a neonatal nurse.
“How to get into college and pay for it as a first-generation student is already a stressful process, and you’re doing almost everything on your own,” she says. “But with all this FAFSA confusion and waiting, I feel like I’m having my wings ripped off.”
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