Cruz , Ph.D., is a socio-cultural anthropologist specializing in Indigenous and Mexican
American oral stories and testimonio in the U.S.–Mexico borderlands. She is director of Student Support Service and the McNar Scholars Programs and a senior lecturer in Chicana/o Studies at San José State University. She lives in East Palo Alto. The priority deadline for the academic year 2024-25 for filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application for student aid is May 2. Unfortunately, the revised application has had a disastrous rollout. This year the FAFSA Simplified Act , now known as the “Better FAFSA,” was created by the Department of Education to streamline the standard, notoriously complex application for college financial aid. However, it has only become worse. Under this Better FAFSA, as it is written today, the intention was to make it easier for everyone who would need this financial assistance to have access by eliminating the length of the application from 108 to 36 questions. However, these questions are not so simple, particularly for those students who fall under the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals or
DACA program and who have parents who have divorced and remarried. According to the U.S. Citizenship and
immigration Services , there are 9,380 DACA recipient students in the San Diego region that are directly affected, out of the 164,320 DACA recipient students in California. DACA recipient students are and have been in limbo since 2012, since they are neither lawful permanent residents nor U.S. citizens, as we say in Spanish ,”ni de aquí, ni de allá” — not from here or there . Under the “Better FAFSA” program, if students do not have a parent with a Social Security number, they are not eligible to apply for financial aid or receive any kind of funding. As a result, they are in a state of limbo, like their status as a citizen in the
United States. It is extremely stressful to manage the unknowns of being a college student and navigating everything for the first time while also dealing with the burden and stress of figuring out how to pay for college. To add to this, being worried about whether you’ll be able to stay in the country and complete your education is enough to drive anyone insane. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is not complete in its rollout, and, for most, there are so many issues in filing the application. DACA recipient students are in limbo and can’t access financial aid. There are about 1.2 million students who meet the criteria in the U.S. Over 50 percent of students with an irregular immigration status don’t apply for financial aid, according to 2021-22 data. And the number of students who did apply decreased by 26 percent from 2021 to 2023 in
California alone. According to a recent court case, there are about 600,000 people active in the U.S. DACA program. Mixed-status families are in the same boat. For example, if a student has parents who got remarried, they must gather all their parents’ information. Some students do not have good relations with their parents or step-parents and don’t have access to that personal information. Our students with an irregular immigration status and those in families with mixed status will need support with completing either the California Dream Act Application (CADAA) or the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. As a first-generation student who was low-income and still underrepresented, and whose parents were immigrants, divorced and remarried, I don’t know how I would survive or make it if I had to file for FAFSA today. At this time, we encourage our students who qualify for a nonresident exemption under Assembly Bill 540 to begin filling out their California Dream Act application for 2024-25 and to connect with a financial aid adviser for support. On the other hand, parents who do not have an Social Security number and who need to fill out the online Free Application for Federal Student Aid are not able to start the form or contribute to an existing one at this time. This means that until there is an update from the federal government, students from mixed-status families are unable to complete the online application. Here are some online resources for mixed-status families and students with an irregular immigration status, specifically for those in California: I hope that the federal government takes steps to make this a “Better FAFSA,” to support families with mixed status and DACA recipient students, in achieving their aspirations of obtaining higher education. All students should have equal access to higher education in the United States.