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Last year, California students are executing federal financial assistance requests than in previous years, what some analysts say is a sign that students may fear that the Trump administration uses their confidential data on the implementation of the implementation of The laws of immigration.
The number of last students who graduated from the Federal Federal Student Help (FAFSA) last year. In both years, the deadline of California for State Financial Assistance (exceptions to fully covered registration in public universities and other scholarships) is in early March. In addition, it drastically reduced the share of students who submit applications and have at least one undocumented father: this figure has fallen 44% so far this year compared to the same time last year, of approximately 30,000 students, then to 17,000 now.
Moose The first data comes By the California Student Aid Commission, the State Agency responsible for financial assistance. The Commission this morning will perform a web seminar With secondary school advisers regarding the consequences of this reduction and how to encourage more students to seek help.
The Trump administration has not announced plans to use application information to identify people to deport.
“It’s very disturbing,” said Daisy Gonzalez, CEO of the Commission, in an interview with the reduction of applications. “This is a crisis in the sense that we have the perfect storm.” Ther Accelerated deportation campaign of the White House, the fires in southern California that move thousands of families and Some schools burned, In addition to the continuous control of students Regarding the value of university education They are good force that according to Gonzalez, they can stand behind the fall.
If the lowest requests are maintained, they fear that “we lose another generation of students who need to register to succeed.”
The Commission has expanded to April 2 The deadline for receiving state aid for students from the cities of Los Angeles and Ventura, where there were much of the destructive winter fires.
California and Fafa’s problems are not new
Last fall, University AID experts have warned that families with undocumented members living in the United States have questioned data security. The main associations of university advisers told students that They will consider not using fafsa to protect their loved ones. Although this law limits the student and family information that enters the application only for financial assistance purposes, legal experts told Calmatters that these rules can change Presidency like Donald Trump. Some students with undocumented parents specifically suspect a line in the application for parents who are asked if They have a social security number And they were asked to complete an identity check form.
Gonzalez attended financial aid fairs sponsored by the Commission and heard families talk about their fears about FAFSA. “The number one question they asked me was:” Is it safe for me to send the application and what are my options? “He said.
While FAFSA is a federal application, California has its own state application, which, according to the Student Aid Commission, is not shared with federal agencies. Is called California’s application for an act of dreamsKnown as everyone. Legal experts have told CalMatters that federal agencies will need overcoming a high legal level to access these government records.
ENAA gives students access to the state -free registration and several thousand dollars in other grants, but FAFSA is the only way for students to receive federal student loans and scholarships of Pell that can Generate more than $ 7,000 a year for low -income studentsS
Initially, it was considered to be undocumented students, the state’s statement last year was extended to enable students with a father not to be a citizen who would seek state aid. The Student Assistance Commission took this measure because of the mass technological problems with FAFSA was renewed last yearS However, the high -ranking member of the Student Aid Commission told California’s legislators last year that the state’s statement could take on a more important role in dealing with financial assistance for students if the immigration climate changed the federal, Trump’s fine winkS
Two new state bills can help, Gonzalez and other commission officials said. One will extend the state aid deadline until April 3S Other would allow more Californians to use eachS Both bills are in their early stages, although lengthening legislation can move quickly: legislators last March They rushed to extend the deadline for state subsidies To deal with the failures of federal requests for technology for this year.
“We have examples of families who have chosen not to apply for FAFSA and instead chose each of them,” says Marcos Montes, Director of Network Policy to achieve a college in Southern California, a coalition of non -profit organizations that Helps students require a university and financial assistance. He said that he was told by network advisers specifically with families living in public homes.
Montes said that the bigger part of the mixed immigration families who knew and abandoned FAFSA are those who require financial assistance for the first time. They are less familiar with the process and are more unochired to share information with the federal government, especially if they have submitted several personal records, if they have sent them to the federal authorities.
“They are aware that they leave financial money to help the table,” he said.
The role of the federal government is not clear and the loss of money can be great
There are many unknown to Trump’s plans for financial assistance data for students, but Montes listed several new developments that he and his colleagues to access the university find concern. One is the group of billionaire Elon Musk, called the Government Efficiency Department, which supposedly gained access to student loan records. Last week the Association of Students at the University of California requested the Trump Administration This will stop Musk’s access to the archives of financial assistance to students. In response, the US Department of Education said on Wednesday that it would temporarily block Musk’s access to these files, A measure approved by a federal judge who controls the caseS This agreement will continue until at least 17 February.
Another concern is that the Federal National Security Department, which includes immigration control agencies, has asked officers of the Internal Revenue Service to discard people who are in the country illegally, The Washington Post reported this week. This is another indication of how the implementation of immigration law is associated with external agencies, Montes said.
In the case of students who have already requested federal financial assistance in previous years or whose parents have submitted tax reports, the federal government already has its information. This is explained by the California University of Students.
“If your family has sent this information in the past, it may continue to be available to the same government agencies,” ” He wrote the university on a student pageS “In this case, the FAFSA presentation may not increase the amount of information about his family, which is already available to the federal government. However, if your family has not exchanged any data in these or other spaces, then the FAFSA presentation may present new information about your family’s condition. “
In December, an UC Advisory Group estimated that if all students with undocumented relatives decide not to receive federal assistance just by completing the state’s application, $ 85 million, $ 85 million Only in subsidies will remain unusedS
“The University of California has no resources to compensate for $ 85 million missing from Pell’s federal scholarships, even less lost access to federal loans for students or the work and training program,” writes Stet Holbrook UC in a statement to Calmatters.
This article was originally published by CalmattersS
