FAFSA Risk

As blog readers will know, past problems with FAFSA* - the form used to obtain federal aid for college attendance - concerned the technical glitches in the application process. Now a new risk has emerged from some students. From the LA Times:

...Submitting financial aid forms this college application season has become a potentially life-altering family decision for California high school seniors with undocumented parents — a predicament also faced by many college students because FAFSA forms generally must be submitted annually to determine ongoing aid. The Department of Education, which administers the FAFSA used to calculate Pell Grants, federal loans and other aid for students, typically does not share immigration status data with other government agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But college counselors and financial aid support groups have recently told students from mixed-status families, many of whom are lower-income and could benefit the most from federal aid, that there’s still risk.

A recent notice from the National College Attainment Network, a nonprofit student advocacy group, noted that the Higher Education Act “prohibits the use of data for any purpose other than determining and awarding federal financial assistance.” But it said it “cannot assure mixed-status students and families that data submitted to U.S. Department of Education, as part of the FAFSA process, will continue to be protected.” ...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-02/fafsa-students-mixed-status-undocumented-parents.

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*FAFSA = Free Application for Federal Student Aid.