In line with the California Dream Act web site, “any data you present on a CA Dream Act Utility (CADAA) is just used to find out eligibility for state monetary support.”
“Your data is rarely shared with the federal authorities or used for immigration enforcement,” the discover reads.
If a mixed-status scholar chooses to finish the FAFSA, the state emphasised that they “must be ready to offer consent to direct information alternate with the IRS.”
Since “direct information alternate doesn’t but work for non-SSN contributors,” these candidates “can even be requested to manually enter their tax data from 2024,” the California Dream Act web site explains.
What recommendation do advocates have for mixed-status households?
In the end, there isn’t one easy reply for a scholar and a household, stated Catherine Marroquín, senior director at Mission Graduates, a San Francisco-based group that helps immigrant and low-income college students go to school.
“It actually simply comes right down to individually speaking to households and determining what they really feel essentially the most safe doing,” she stated. She recommends households determine how a lot of their very own data they’re keen to share with state and federal companies — and determine what they’ve already shared up to now.
“If a scholar was born right here, their dad and mom are undocumented, however the dad and mom have finished taxes earlier than or have an ITIN quantity, then the IRS already has their data,” Marroquín stated. If households have by no means filed taxes or requested an Particular person Taxpayer Identification Quantity, they might select to skip FAFSA and keep away from any interplay with the federal system for now.
It’s nonetheless potential to obtain monetary support for school by solely finishing CADAA and never FAFSA, however college students could have to put in additional work and search for non-public scholarships to make up for the loss in federal monetary support. The truth is, Mission Graduates is even “encouraging college students to additionally apply for personal colleges, simply because their funding may be extra beneficiant,” she stated.
Some college students might additionally go to establishments that supply free tuition to eligible college students — like Metropolis School of San Francisco — and switch sooner or later if federal coverage adjustments. In all this uncertainty, Marroquín stated that applications like hers need to emphasize “energy, not panic.”
“How will we put together our households?” she stated. “For them to really feel protected [with] their children going to school and the school selections they’re making … that is all a part of the universe of issues that the households are having proper now with this administration.”
The place can mixed-status households discover extra data or assist?
Marroquín really helpful consulting a spreadsheet of support out there to mixed-status and undocumented college students created by the Northern California School Promise Coalition. The group Immigration Rising additionally has an inventory of scholarships and fellowships that don’t require proof of U.S. citizenship.
Different locations you’ll find assist embody:
