Amid Immigration Crackdown, Officials Worry About Decline in California Dream Act Applications

CADAA is different from the federal financial aid application, also known as FAFSA. Students without legal status cannot apply for FAFSA, but students from mixed-status families can as long as they themselves have documentation.

However, concerns that filling out the FAFSA can put family members at risk of deportation have been plaguing students during President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown — which includes a contentious agreement between the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to share information and the recent release of driver’s license data.

“There are really talented students here in the state of California that want the opportunity to go to college,” said Esther Mejia, a first-generation student working on her master’s degree at the University of California, Riverside. “But right now, given everything that’s happening in our political climate, they have to really struggle and bargain with the idea of going to college versus protecting their families.”

However, Kangas insisted that “CADAA is safe. College is still possible. And California is not walking away from immigrant students.”

Keep reading to see what CSAC has learned about application rates and the guidance higher education officials are providing to students. Please note that this article is not legal advice, and it is best to consult with an expert before making any decisions.

What do the numbers say?

According to data from CSAC, the state is home to 3.3 million students from mixed-status families, which Kangas said is “not a marginal population.”

“This is a core part of California’s student population and workforce future,” she said.

During the last FAFSA cycle, 36,816 high school first-time applicants from mixed-status families completed the FAFSA.

That number declined by 3,000 students, or around 8%, this cycle as of early April.

Last year, 1,557 high school first-time applicants from mixed-status families completed the CADAA application.

As of early April, only 910 students completed the application — almost a 42% decrease.

“That is not a small fluctuation,” Kangas said.

“Each one of these numbers represents a student who is a U.S. Citizen and is eligible for federal aid as well as state aid.”

Kangas worries there is a risk of losing “an entire generation of students, not because they lack talent,” but because of concerns that providing information could expose loved ones to immigration enforcement.

“California has spent years telling students that college is the pathway to opportunity,” Kangas said.

“That message now collides with another reality: fear. Fear that applying for aid could expose a loved one to harm, and fear that the systems designed to support them may not be able to protect them.”

What are the protections around the California Dream Act Application?

According to the CADAA website, the California Student Aid Commission “has not now, or in the past, shared any information which would indicate a student’s immigration status, either documented or undocumented.”

CSAC also references the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a federal law that aims to protect the privacy of student education records.

SB 54 and AB 21 are laws that require CSAC to “refrain from disclosing any personal information or discussing legal status,” Kangas said. She added that CSAC anonymizes student data.

Nikki Majidi, vice president of legislative affairs for the Cal State Student Association, also showed support for SB 323, a bill that would require “California’s public and private colleges and universities to promote the California Dream Act application.”

“It’s not just about making the application process more efficient. It’s about promoting equity,” Majidi said.

CSAC’s executive director, Dr. Daisy Gonzales, also supports providing funds to protect student data, an issue that recently surfaced after a Canvas hack impacted students across the country.

She said in a statement on Thursday that “the necessary technology infrastructure, including a backup server that supports data recovery in the event of a cyberattack, is not sustainably funded in the current version of the 2026-27 May Revise budget.”

What advice do advocates have for mixed-status families around federal financial aid?

Ultimately, there isn’t one simple answer for a student and their family, said Catherine Marroquín, senior director at Mission Graduates, a San Francisco-based organization that helps immigrant and low-income students go to college.

“It really just comes down to individually talking to families and figuring out what they feel the most secure doing,” she said in 2025. She recommends families decide how much of their own information they are willing to share with state and federal agencies — and identify what they have already shared in the past.

“If 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,” Marroquín said.

If families have never filed taxes or requested an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, they may choose to skip FAFSA and avoid any interaction with the federal system for now.

It’s 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 “encouraging students to also apply for private schools, just because their funding can be more generous,” she said.

Some students could also go to institutions that offer free tuition to eligible students — like City College of San Francisco — and transfer in the future if federal policy changes. In all this uncertainty, Marroquín said that programs like hers want to emphasize “power, not panic.”

“How do we prepare our families?” she said. “For them to feel safe [with] their kids going to college and the college choices they’re making … this is all part of the universe of concerns that the families are having right now with this administration.”

Where can mixed-status families find more information or support?

Marroquín recommended consulting a spreadsheet of aid available to mixed-status and families without legal status created by the Northern California College Promise Coalition.

The group Immigration Rising also has a list of scholarships and fellowships that don’t require proof of U.S. citizenship.

Other places you can find support include:

• First Gen Empower
• National College Attainment Network
• California Student Aid Commission’s guidance for mixed-status families
• ContingoEd
• Immigrants Rising
• Mission Graduates