Thousands of California students who are U.S. citizens have made an agonizing choice this spring: They did not apply for federal financial aid to attend college because their parents are undocumented and they feared submitting the application would reveal information that could lead to a loved one’s deportation.
“I don’t want to sacrifice my family for my possible success,” said one Los Angeles high school senior, who wrestled with the decision. “I felt like it was very selfish of me to put my entire family in jeopardy for the possibility of me getting into a good college.”
There was an 8% drop this year in the number of high school students from mixed-status families, about 3,000 fewer, who submitted the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, called FAFSA, a form used to determine eligibility for federal, state and institutional financial aid, according to the most recent data from the California Student Aid Commission. The commission has access to the state’s FAFSAs to identify trends and areas where applications are lagging.
The U.S. Department of Education form requires applicants to check a box acknowledging that one or both of their parents lack a Social Security number. Some students fear this information could alert the federal government to their parents’ immigration status — and counselors say they can’t offer assurances that the data will stay private.
By contrast, California has seen a 9% overall increase, or 26,450 students, this year in FAFSA applications. The FAFSA is required for anyone applying for federal financial aid, and for most low-income students it is their primary route to affording a college degree. The application also determines eligibility for grants, loans and work-study.
California officials say the trend for students from mixed-status families is concerning.
“It’s absolutely connected to immigration enforcement,” said Daisy Gonzales, executive director of the California Student Aid Commission, which is responsible for administering college financial aid in the state. “It is still just extremely unsafe in our world today to be a part of a family that’s being targeted by the federal government.”
“If we’re not seeing these students in these numbers, it is very unlikely that we will see them in future years,” she added.
The Education Department is not supposed to share student information with agencies responsible for immigration enforcement, but with the government breaking long-standing norms on data sharing, students entitled to federal aid are hesitating to apply.
“Across the country, our members are hearing directly from students who are increasingly hesitant to complete the FAFSA because they’re worried about how their family’s information could be used,” said Sean Robins, director of advocacy at the National Assn. of College Admissions Counseling. “That is shaping the real decisions, with students either delaying, reconsidering or even opting out all together.”
“What we’re seeing is that fear, and not academics or finances, is becoming a barrier to college access,” he added.
Data outside California suggest the trend exists elsewhere. Close to 500 fewer students completed the application in 10 schools near the Texas border where almost all of the students are Latino, even as FAFSA completion grew overall in the state. There have also been drops at some schools that serve immigrant communities in the Chicago area and Minneapolis.
The Education Department did not respond to several requests for comment.
Federal law prohibits the Education Department from sharing student data for any reason other than financial aid purposes. Over the last year, however, the administration has attempted to use data from other federal agencies to help with its deportation efforts, including from voter registration rolls, tax filings, public housing and low-income food assistance programs, although federal courts have blocked some of these attempts.
Ryan, the Los Angeles student, said he has seen people’s parents disappear, and when he weighed that prospect up against his dream of going to UCLA, it started to feel less important. His father works six days a week, getting up at 5 a.m. to get to his job, and his mom cleans houses.
“All the work that my parents both put in, I could just be destroying it,” said Ryan, who requested that only his first name be used to protect his parents. “If the government wanted to find out where I lived or who my family was, their status, they could find it.”
Some states, including California, New York and Washington, have separate financial aid application processes for state aid, with promises not to share student data with federal agencies. The number of students from mixed-status families who filed the California application — which determines eligibility for financial aid including Cal Grants — is also down this year, from 1,557 in April 2025 to 910.
Karla Ramos, a counselor at the nonprofit College Access Plan in whom Ryan confided, was also a U.S. citizen from a mixed-status family when she applied to college.
“Something as delicate as keeping your family together, especially when raids are happening in their community — I work with students who have to decide, and I have to tell them there’s no guarantee,” she said.
She said some students have opted instead to go to community college rather than a costly university.
“The local community college is amazing,” she added, “but this is limiting people in terms of their access to education.”
One student’s dilemma
Ryan spent more than two months wrestling with the decision as immigration arrests in Los Angeles shot up last fall. One afternoon, he finally spoke to his mom about the choice he was facing. She told him to apply.
“This is what I want for your future. I want you to succeed, even if it costs me something. I want you to do the best you can,” Ryan recalled her saying. “The risk is worth the future you could have.”
A few days later, Ryan submitted the FAFSA. In March, when admissions decisions came out, he waited for his parents to get home and braced for a rejection, but when he opened the letter from UCLA on his computer, it said, “Congratulations.”
“It took me a little bit to realize what actually happened, and before then, my parents were already screaming,” Ryan said.
He plans to work while in school, but with a total cost of around $45,000 per year, it’s his decision to fill out the FAFSA and get access to the same aid as other U.S. citizens that will allow him to afford to go to UCLA.
Ryan said he still worries about attending college, somehow feeling if he stays home he could protect his parents. But they want him to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor, or maybe a conservationist. And for now, that’s the plan.
Kolodner writes for the Hechinger Report, which produced this report and is a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.
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