STATEMENT: Aliento Raises Awareness of Critical FAFSA Challenges for Arizona's Mixed-Status Families
For immediate release: February 6, 2024
Advocates urge reform as thousands navigate federal aid application season and fear missing critical financial aid
PHOENIX, AZ - With the federal aid application season underway, Aliento, a leading voice for undocumented youth, DACA, and mixed immigration-status families, is drawing attention to a major financial aid application problem: mixed-status immigration families are struggling to apply for federal student aid.
In Arizona, mixed-status families are facing substantial challenges in applying for federal student aid due to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) requirement for a Social Security Number (SSN) from financial contributors. This requirement impacts an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Arizona high school seniors and 15,000 to 25,000 college students, with a broader national impact affecting potentially hundreds of thousands of students. This is based on the fact that in Arizona, 140,000 U.S. Citizens or Legal Permanent Resident children live in a mixed status, according to FWD.US.
Specific hurdles during FAFSA applications include:
Parents without a Social Security Number (SSN) face challenges in creating a Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID, as the U.S. Department of Education relies on a TransUnion credit bureau for verification. These parents lack the requisite information for verification, posing a significant hurdle in the application process.
A recent issue identified with the FSA ID system involves individuals who have used another person's SSN for employment. When these parents select the option indicating they do not have an SSN, the system still finds a matching SSN under their name. This problem appears to be unresolvable.
Undocumented parents encounter difficulties when attempting to use the FSA ID to contribute financial information to their child's Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). When they receive the contributors' link from their child and try to input their financial data, the system often fails to respond. While this issue can be resolved for many, some cases remain unresolved.
"The FAFSA process, as it stands, disproportionately disadvantaged students from mixed-status families, creating barriers to secure essential aid to pay for their higher education," says José Patiño, Vice President of Education & External Affairs, Aliento. "It's imperative we reform the application system to be more inclusive, ensuring every student, regardless of their family's immigration status, has an equal opportunity to secure vital financial aid."
Currently, neither statewide FAFSA assistance programs in Arizona nor national experts have been able to consistently support students with one undocumented parent in fully completing the FAFSA process. This issue has widespread implications, potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of students nationwide who may encounter similar challenges. Without the ability to complete the FAFSA, many students may have no choice but to pay out of pocket, secure private loans, or in some cases, unenroll from their educational programs.
MORE ABOUT ALIENTO:
Aliento serves undocumented, DACA, and mixed immigration status families to transform trauma into hope and action. Aliento is youth-led, directly impacted people and allies who are co-creating and building a place where human potential is nurtured and not defined by immigration status. Aliento supports students and families impacted by the inequities of lacking an immigration status through education initiatives, arts & healing programming, leadership development training, policy & advocacy.