According to the California Dream Act website<\/a>, \u201cany information you provide on a CA Dream Act Application (CADAA) is only used to determine eligibility for state financial aid.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYour information is never shared with the federal government or used for immigration enforcement,\u201d the notice reads.<\/p>\n If a mixed-status student chooses to complete the FAFSA, the state emphasized<\/a> that they \u201cshould be prepared to provide consent to direct data exchange with the IRS.\u201d<\/p>\n Since \u201cdirect data exchange does not yet work for non-SSN contributors,\u201d these applicants \u201cwill also be asked to manually enter their tax information from 2024,\u201d the California Dream Act website<\/a> explains.<\/p>\n Ultimately, there isn\u2019t one simple answer for a student and a family, said Catherine Marroqu\u00edn, senior director at Mission Graduates<\/a>, a San Francisco-based organization that helps immigrant and low-income students go to college.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really just comes down to individually talking to families and figuring out what they feel the most secure doing,\u201d she said. She recommends families decide how much of their own information they are willing to share with state and federal agencies \u2014 and identify what they have already shared in the past.<\/p>\n \u201cIf a student was born here, their parents are undocumented, but the parents have done taxes before or have an ITIN number, then the IRS already has their information,\u201d Marroqu\u00edn said. If families have never filed taxes or requested an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number<\/a>, they may choose to skip FAFSA and avoid any interaction with the federal system for now.<\/p>\n It\u2019s still possible to receive financial aid for college by only completing CADAA and not FAFSA, but students may need to put in extra work and look for private scholarships to make up for the loss in federal financial aid. In fact, Mission Graduates is even \u201cencouraging students to also apply for private schools, just because their funding can be more generous,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Some students could also go to institutions that offer free tuition to eligible students \u2014 like City College of San Francisco<\/a> \u2014 and transfer in the future if federal policy changes. In all this uncertainty, Marroqu\u00edn said that programs like hers want to emphasize \u201cpower, not panic.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow do we prepare our families?\u201d she said. \u201cFor them to feel safe [with] their kids going to college and the college choices they\u2019re making \u2026 this is all part of the universe of concerns that the families are having right now with this administration.\u201d<\/p>\n Marroqu\u00edn recommended consulting a spreadsheet of aid available to mixed-status and undocumented students<\/a> created by the Northern California College Promise Coalition. The group Immigration Rising also has a list of scholarships and fellowships<\/a> that don\u2019t require proof of U.S. citizenship.<\/p>\n Other places you can find support include:<\/p>\n<\/div>\nWhat advice do advocates have for mixed-status families?<\/h2>\n
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Where can mixed-status families find more information or support?<\/h2>\n