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How the FAFSA could become a new tool for immigration enforcement

Students from mixed-status families faced with potential deportations under the Trump administration expressed concerns over filling out financial aid applications.

A picture of a sign, which details the Office of Financial Aid.

Students mentioned difficulties such as long FAFSA wait times, insufficient knowledge about the college application process from parents and a lack of cooperation from Brown’s financial aid office.

As prospective and current Brown students approach the Feb. 1 financial aid application deadline, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid could pose potential risks for students with parents who are lacking permanent legal status. 

While President Trump has begun carrying out his campaign promise this week to increase immigration enforcement, students with undocumented parents are still figuring out how his decisions will affect their families’ status and their ability to afford college.

Undocumented students, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, are not eligible to apply for federal aid, but students with undocumented parents can apply. These students in “mixed-status” families are still required to disclose certain information that could hint at a parent’s undocumented status.

For parents, “there’s a box you check that says ‘I don’t have a social security number,’” said Jill Desjean, a senior policy analyst at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. 

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The Biden administration’s policy was “not to share FAFSA data” to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but whether Trump chooses to continue this policy remains to be seen, Desjean said. Under the Privacy Act of 1974, Desjean said another agency could require the Department of Education to share information for immigration enforcement.

The Department of Education and the White House did not respond to The Herald’s requests for comment.

“We’re telling families it’s a personal decision” whether to fill out the FAFSA, Desjean said.

In an email to The Herald, Dean of Financial Aid Sean Ferns wrote that his office has “recently heard from some mixed-status families who have concerns with completing the FAFSA,” but that “it is important to note that the FAFSA is required to determine eligibility and to process federal aid.”

If students don’t fill out the FAFSA, they cannot receive federal aid but can potentially receive aid directly from Brown, he added.

If a student has filled out a FAFSA in years past, “your data is already at the Department of Education,” Desjean said. Regardless of whether a student resubmits the FAFSA this year, the information they previously provided is already on file. 

Three students who are members of Dream Team, Brown’s “undocumented+” organization, spoke with The Herald about the issues that FAFSA applications raise for students in mixed-status families. Two of the three students elected to remain anonymous to protect the immigration status of their undocumented or non-citizen family members.

The first student, a U.S. citizen whose parents are undocumented, said Brown was their “dream school” when they were growing up.

Students filling out the FAFSA for the first time may be scared of exposing their parents, the student said  — leading to fewer opportunities for federal aid.

They added that the process of completing the FAFSA can also be extremely difficult for applicants from mixed-status families. Noting that many mixed-status families may not have had access to college educations, they said there is a lack of knowledge about the financial aid process among undocumented parents.

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The student’s mother did not have an email address before they filled out their FAFSA, so they were required to create one for the FAFSA application. To answer many of their questions about completing the FAFSA, the student consulted YouTube channels and TikTok accounts.

Amid changing policies and regulations, the student described a general sense of uncertainty among Brown’s undocumented and mixed-status community. Some students have discussed claiming dual citizenship in their parents’ home countries just in case their parents get deported, the student said.

“If my parents get deported, I’m talking with my brother, like, ‘what can we do?’” the student added.

Paola Chapilliquen ’27, a member of the Dream Team who was born and raised in South Florida, said she has no immediate family members who are undocumented. But she said there is a mood of “fear, uncertainty around what is to come” within the undocumented community.

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Nick Lee ’26, the co-president of activist organization Students for Educational Equity, called Trump’s new policies regarding deportations “a movement away from equitable practices within the federal government.”

Ferns also expressed concerns that increased deportations could affect the support systems mixed-status students have, which could “result in a reluctance to apply to Brown or any other institution.”

Another member of the Dream Team was the first in their family to be born in the United States and has two older siblings who were born in Mexico. Both are currently protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Trump rescinded DACA in his first term. Due to recent litigation, new DACA requests will not be considered, but renewals will continue to be processed. 

The source’s mother, who now has a green card, overstayed her visa and remained in the United States. Their father was deported to Mexico in 2016.

The student said that as a child, they would frequently travel back and forth over the United States-Mexico border. “After the cartel violence got bad, we moved to the U.S.,” she said.

The student filled out the FAFSA and the CSS Profile, another financial aid application that Brown accepts, but faced difficulties due to their father’s unwillingness to provide certain financial documents required in the applications.

They were required to fill out a noncustodial form to confirm the absence of their father and his inability to fund their education. Brown eventually rejected the form, which meant the student had to track down their father’s tax documents. The University required them to translate those documents from Spanish to English, the student said.

Ferns did not respond to an inquiry about why a noncustodial form would be rejected or if students are required to translate financial documents.

Brown included their father’s estimated contribution in their annual bill, which he has never paid, the student said. They now work four on-campus jobs to shoulder the bill.

“Do I want to be working four jobs? Like, no. But I have to,” they said. The student praised Brown’s Undocumented, First-Generation and Low-Income Students Center for helping them, saying they did a “much better” job than the financial aid office to help them receive the resources they needed to attend college.

Chapilliquen also expressed gratitude for the U-Fli Center, noting “the fact that we have the ‘U’ in front of it” — which stands for “undocumented” — tells mixed-status students “you’re welcome here.”

Julio Reyes, the director of the U-FLi Center, declined to comment.

Ferns recommended that students with concerns about their financial aid and documentation contact the Office of Financial Aid and “make an appointment with a financial aid counselor who can speak to them about their options.”


Teddy Fisher

Teddy Fisher is a senior staff writer who studies International and Public Affairs and is passionate about law, national security and sports. He enjoys playing basketball, running and reading in his free time.



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