The Brief

While witnessing a rise in deportations across the country, college-bound high school seniors with immigrant parents in California had to decide this spring whether to submit a federal financial aid application. Their fear: The federal government will use sensitive personal information from the application to identify people in the country who lack legal status. An agreement between the IRS and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to share tax information is already in motion.

However, the latest data available from the California Student Aid Commission shows that the number of high school senior applicants from mixed-status families has not decreased as much as some financial aid advocates feared it would. In fact, the number of high school senior applicants with at least one parent lacking legal status has nearly rebounded to the 2023 number after the revised financial aid form last year kept them from being able to apply without parental Social Security numbers for several months.

Despite the risk of exposing their parents to a deportation dragnet, 35% more college-bound high school seniors from mixed-status families have submitted a Free Application for Federal Student Aid as of the May 2 deadline compared with applications submitted by the same date last year. However, 9% fewer high school seniors from mixed-status families submitted their FAFSA compared to the same date two years ago. Community college students are notably excluded from these numbers as they have a separate deadline of Sept. 2.

Students who choose not to submit a financial aid application lose potential federal aid through grants, work study and loans. While the federal deadline is not until the end of the academic year for which a student applies, California sets its own early deadline for the FAFSA to determine state aid such as Cal Grants.

California officials gave students a one-month extension from April 2 to May 2 to submit the FAFSA after the U.S. Department of Education opened the application in December 2024 rather than the usual launch of October.

The California Student Aid Commission administers financial aid programs for students in California and helps organizations that counsel students on their financial aid applications. The commission’s spokesperson, Shelveen Ratnam, said the federal student aid application should have been a little easier for mixed-status families this time around.

“Now the concern this year has kind of been the federal landscape, the federal administration, given… all the increased immigration enforcement [and] the unprecedented data sharing between federal agencies,” Ratnam said.

In the federal financial aid application, parents must submit personal details such as their Social Security numbers. If parents do not have them due to their legal status, they need to click a box that says “I do not have a SSN.”

Although Ratnam and fellow staff at the commission are not currently aware of any efforts by immigration enforcement to access the personal information of FAFSA applicants, some students said they are concerned about the possibility that the personal details of their parents might be used to deport them.

Students and parents face a tough choice

College-bound high school seniors in California who spoke to CalMatters for this story say the importance of going to college outweighs fears of their parents being deported.

Janet, a graduate of Hawthorne High School in the L.A. area, said she and her parents were antsy as they filled out the application together for the first time. Due to her family’s mixed legal status, she asked to go by her first name only. Janet recalls the concern from one of her parents who lacks permanent legal status that by submitting the application to the federal government they would be exposing themselves to immigration enforcement. However, her parents decided it was more important that their daughter receive financial aid for college.

“When we submitted the application together, they said to me, ‘This is for you, Janet. This is for the future generations, and I hope we stay together,’” she said.

Janet, a high school senior, outside Hawthorne High School.

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Alisha Jucevic

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CalMatters

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Alondra, a graduate of University High School Charter on Los Angeles' Westside, says she feels stress because most of her family does not have permanent legal status. Alondra also requested to use only her first name to protect her family from potential deportation. Alondra said it surprised her family when she informed them of the possible risk if they apply. However, a counselor in the One Voice Scholars Program, which works with low-income, first-generation students, pointed out that Alondra’s parents already share their personal information with the federal government when they file taxes.

“So it's like we already know that my parents are already in the system, so we just kind of hope that me submitting my FAFSA isn't adding on to that risk,” Alondra said.

Some students from mixed-status families who have older siblings may already have shared their data with the U.S. Department of Education, according to Alison De Lucca, executive director of the Southern California College Access Network. She said each family has to determine the pros and cons of the implications when applying for financial aid. Mixed-status families are also likely sharing their data with the state and federal government when they file taxes, get a driver’s license, or adjust their immigration status.

Angela, a graduate of the Los Angeles County High School of the Arts who also requested to use her first name only due to her family’s mixed legal status, said she started grappling with the decision of whether to apply for federal student aid during her sophomore year. At the time, her parents were still in the process of obtaining their citizenship and did not know if they would receive it in time for Angela’s financial aid application.

“They just really wanted me to be able to go [to college] for as cheap as possible,” Angela said.

Angela’s parents were able to obtain citizenship recently. However, she feels some of her college options are “off the table,” including Cornell University, which had offered her a scholarship that would have funded her first year. Angela grew concerned about attending universities in New York after hearing reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement “targeting” students that led pro-Palestinian protests, such as Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia and Momodou Taal at Cornell.

She also feels guilt as some of her extended family and friends who are applying for financial aid do not have parents with permanent legal status in the U.S.

“I’m happy for myself, but that feels selfish,” Angela said. “I know that I can help my family in that sense, but it's really upsetting. You worry for your friends that might not be able to do it, might not be able to get that future that they really dream of.”

Federal financial aid application faces new problems

Following President Donald Trump’s executive order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, the department’s spokesperson James Bergeron wrote in a letter on March 14 that those working directly with the federal financial aid application or student loan servicing were not affected by the staff reductions.

Although Bergeron’s letter addressed the department’s staff reduction, De Lucca said that she and fellow staff at the College Access Network are concerned that layoffs at the department could lead to less support available for students and families when they call for assistance with their financial aid applications.

FAFSA fact sheets are displayed at College Information Day at UC Berkeley.

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Juliana Yamada

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CalMatters

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“There's less staff at the Department of Education to consult with community-based organizations like SoCal CAN [College Access Network] and our members,” De Lucca said. “So for us, it's been more difficult to reach folks at the department when we do have questions.”

Inside Higher Ed reported in March that the staff reductions in the Office of Federal Student Aid would impact the staff’s ability to fix technical issues with the form, which were prevalent last year. Additional cuts were made to the FAFSA call center and training for financial aid practitioners, according to the same story by Inside Higher Ed.

A federal judge blocked Trump's executive order that led to the massive staff reduction at the education department in May. However, on July 14 the U.S. Supreme Court allowed for the president’s plan to continue.

The education department’s press office did not respond to repeated requests from CalMatters about the number of staff cuts at the Office of Federal Student Aid.

During last year’s updated FAFSA rollout, students faced technical issues with the application’s overhaul, prompting a review by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Revisions to the application included reducing the number of questions by pulling students’ and parents’ financial information straight from the IRS. If parents were missing Social Security numbers, then students could not submit a financial aid application.

Students had to wait until March 12, 2024, for the glitch on the website to be fixed before completing their submission, still ahead of the state’s extended deadline of May 2. The issues with the application last year resulted in 9,642 fewer federal financial aid applications submitted by May 2 from students in mixed-status families in the state compared to this year, according to the California Student Aid Commission.

Sacramento State senior Fernanda Arteaga spent four months trying to submit a FAFSA last year due to her parents not having Social Security numbers.

Arteaga tried calling the office about six times to ensure that her application had the necessary information to be submitted, but each time she had to wait for assistance, leading her to hang up and try again at another time.

Sacramento State senior Fernanda Arteaga, who comes from a mixed-status family, faced difficulties when applying for federal financial aid last year due to glitches on the site.

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Mercy Sosa

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CalMatters

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Finally, Arteaga was able to reach a staff member and submit her application.

Experts from the federal Governmental Accountability Office testified before Congress in the fall of 2024 that 74% of the calls to the department’s call center went unanswered due to understaffing.

“I would mainly say that I just overcame those obstacles by just constantly checking in with the [Office of Federal Student Aid] and making sure that everything I could do on my end was done, and that everything I had was there,” Arteaga said. She finally received her financial aid a month into the fall 2024 semester and was granted an extension to pay for her tuition by the university while the funds were disbursed.

With this year’s federal financial aid application, Arteaga did not encounter any website glitches, and had an easier process applying. Instead, Arteaga was concerned about the implications of applying for federal student aid given the political climate. Arteaga and her parents accepted the risk of immigration enforcement accessing their personal information through the application and ultimately applied.

“Obviously it is a federal organization,” Arteaga said. “So we were concerned that … our information wasn't going to be protected. But my parents, since we've already done applications … in the past, they were like just do it. We really need the money, and we want to get you to finish your last year in college.”

California offers alternative financial aid application

Students who lack permanent legal status themselves are not eligible for federal financial aid. However, since 2013, the state has administered the California Dream Act Application, also known as CADAA, for those students to apply for state and campus-based aid. When students from mixed-status families were unable to submit a federal application in 2024, California opened its financial aid application temporarily to those students so they could at least apply for state aid.

The California Student Aid Commission again opened the Dream Act application to students from mixed-status families this year to provide them a state-protected way to apply for financial aid. California state law protects students and families by not sharing their personal information with immigration officials.

Now a state senator is proposing to open the financial aid application permanently to students from mixed-status families. State Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, a Democrat from Pasadena, proposed Senate Bill 323, which would require the California Student Aid Commission to ensure that the state application can be used by “any student eligible for state financial aid programs,” according to the bill text.

“It is crucial we provide California college bound students with a stable, safe, and alternative state-based financial aid application to feel safe in applying for financial aid and choosing to go to college,” Pérez said on the Senate floor June 2.

Emmanuel Rodriguez, senior director of policy and advocacy at the Institute for College Access and Success, said California's Dream Act application adds a level of security for applicants as the information they receive is only shared with the campuses listed on a student's application to determine whether the student is eligible for financial aid.

Financial aid advocates say that each family applying for financial aid must make a decision based on their specific situation and whether they should submit the federal application, the state Dream Act application, or both.

Samantha Yee contributed to this story. Mercy Sosa is a fellow with the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters higher education coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

California clocked its second-worst snowpack on record Wednesday, a potentially troubling signal ahead for fire season.

It’s an alarming end to a winter that saw abnormally dry conditions briefly wiped from California’s drought map in January, for the first time in a quarter-century.

Though precipitation to date has been near average, much of it fell as rain rather than snow. Then March’s record-breaking heat melted most of the snow that remains. The state’s major reservoirs are nevertheless brimming above historic averages and are flirting with capacity, and a smattering of snow, rain and thunderstorms are dousing last month’s heat wave.

But experts now warn that California’s case of the missing snowpack could herald an early fire season in the mountains.

On Wednesday, state engineers conducting the symbolic April 1 snowpack measurement at Phillips Station south of Lake Tahoe found no measurable snow in patches of white dotting the grassy field.

“I want to welcome you call to probably one of the quickest snow surveys we’ve had — maybe one where people could actually use an umbrella,” joked Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources. “We’re getting a lot of questions about are we heading into a hydrologic drought? The answer is, I don’t know.”

State data reports that California’s snowpack is closing out the season at an alarming 18% of average statewide, and an even more abysmal 6% of average in the northern mountains that feed California’s major reservoirs.

Only the extreme drought year of 2015 beat this year’s snowpack for the worst on record, measuring in at just 5% of average on April 1st, when the snow historically is at its deepest.

“I think everyone's anticipating that it will be a long, busy fire season,” said Lenya Quinn-Davidson, director of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network.

“Without a snowpack, and with an early spring, it just means that there’s much more time for something like that to happen.”

‘It’s pretty bizarre up here’ 

In the city of South Lake Tahoe, which survived the massive Caldor Fire in the fall of 2021 without losing any structures, fire chief Jim Drennan said his department is already ramping up prevention efforts.

“It's pretty bizarre up here right now. It really seems like June conditions more than March,” Drennan said. “People are already turning the sprinklers on for their lawns.”

Without more precipitation, an early spring may complicate prescribed burning efforts. But Drennan said fire agencies in the Tahoe basin can start mechanically clearing fuels from forest areas earlier than usual.

“That means we can get more work done,” he said.

It also means homeowners need to start hardening their homes now, said Martin Goldberg, battalion chief and fuels management officer for the Lake Valley Fire Protection District, which protects unincorporated communities in the Lake Tahoe Basin’s south shore.

Goldberg urges residents to scour their yards for burnable materials, create defensible space and reach out to local fire departments with questions. The risks are widespread — from firewood, wooden fences, gas cans, plants, pine needles — even lawn furniture stacked against a house.

“In years past, I wouldn't even think of raking and clearing until May,” Goldberg said. “But my yard's completely cleared of snowpack, and it has been for a couple weeks now.”

‘A haystack fire’

Battalion chief David Acuña, a spokesperson for Cal Fire, said fire season is shaped by more than just one year’s snowpack.

Climate change has been remaking California’s fire seasons into fire years. And California’s recent average to abundant water years have fueled what Acuña called “bumper crops of vegetation and brush.”

“Most of California is like a haystack. And if you’ve ever seen a haystack fire, they burn very intensely because there's layers of fuel,” Acuña said.

Like Quinn-Davidson, Acuña wasn’t ready to make specific predictions about fires to come.

But John Abatzoglou, a professor of climatology at UC Merced, said the temperatures and snowpack conditions this year offer a glimpse of California in the latter decades of this century, as fossil fuel use continues to drive global temperatures higher.

How this year’s fires will play out will depend on when, where and how wind, heat, fuel and ignitions combine. But it foreshadows the consequences of a warmer California for water and fire under climate change.

“This,” Abatzoglou said, “is yet another stress test for the future in the state.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Thousands of immigrants who are lawfully in California are set to lose their food assistance benefits, known as CalFresh, starting this month.

The new restrictions stem from H.R. 1 — also known as the “Big Beautiful Bill” — which Congress passed last year.

The changes remove eligibility for certain noncitizens, including people with refugee status and victims of trafficking. It also applies to immigrants from Iraq and Afghanistan who have special immigrant visas for helping the U.S. government overseas.

 ”These are folks … many of whom have large families that we have a commitment to as a country because we welcomed them and invited them here to find a place of refuge,” said Cambria Tortorelli, president of the International Institute of Los Angeles, a refugee resettlement agency. “They’re authorized to work and they’ve been brought here by the U.S. government.”

The federal spending bill, H.R. 1, made sweeping cuts to social safety net programs, including food assistance and Medicaid. In signing the bill, President Donald Trump said the changes were delivering on his campaign promises of “America first.”

Officials estimate 23,000 people in Los Angeles County will be affected. The state estimates about 72,000 immigrants with lawful presence will be affected across California.

CalFresh is the state’s version of the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Undocumented immigrants have not been eligible to receive CalFresh benefits.

State officials say noncitizens who are currently receiving benefits will continue to get them until it’s time to renew their benefits — adding that people might be able to receive benefits again if their legal status changes to lawful permanent residents.

Who the changes apply to:

• Asylees
• Refugees
• Parolees (unless they are Cuban and Haitian entrants)
• Individuals with deportation or removal withheld
• Conditional entrants
• Victims of trafficking
• Battered noncitizens
• Iraqi or Afghan with special immigrant visas (SIV) who are not lawful permanent residents (LPR)
• Certain Afghan Nationals granted parole between July 31, 2021, and Sept. 30, 2023
• Certain Ukrainian Nationals granted parole between Feb. 24, 2022, and Sep. 30, 2024