“I got into this school alone, I didn’t have any resources,” said an undocumented USC junior majoring in legal studies and minoring in Latinx news media. The student, who requested anonymity out of fear of deportation, is one of 408,000 undocumented students pursuing higher education in the United States according to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal.
In California, undocumented people who meet certain requirements under California Assembly Bill 540, 2000, and Senate Bill 68 can attend California public universities for the cost of in-state tuition.
Access to higher education for undocumented students is an achievement, but if students aren’t equipped with resources to help them manage a new environment their college experience may become harder.
At USC, undocumented students have been grappling with this issue for years. Although the California Assembly Bill applies to California public schools, private schools have attempted to adopt similar policies. USC has implemented some resources, but undocumented students have asked for a physical space for their community since 2023 without positive results.
Getting to college
While the college admissions process is stress-inducing, it can be made more overwhelming for undocumented students.
According to USC’s Immigration & DACA Status page, “USC admission, enrollment, and tuition policies are not based on your immigration or DACA status. Your admission and enrollment will not be affected if you do not have, or if you lose your immigration or DACA status.”
Once accepted, undocumented students must find a way to receive financial aid if needed. One route is through the California Dream Act application (CADAA). The CADAA is what undocumented students seeking financial aid who do not qualify for FAFSA fill out. This includes students who have a social security number that is provided by DACA. The CADAA is how universities and colleges verify that an undocumented student qualifies for in-state tuition. Students may qualify for financial assistance through the state that can be applied to USC.
To apply for need-based financial aid, undocumented students must submit the College Scholarship Service (CSS) Profile, a tax return for the year prior to the academic year, and an affidavit of Immigration Status according to USC’s website.
Although CADAA is an opportunity for undocumented students to receive aid, “only 14 percent of the total estimated undocumented student population in California received financial aid” according to the California Student Aid Commission’s report from 2023.
Once at USC
At USC, institutional resources for undocumented students are limited. One option students have is the First Generation Plus Success Center. Founded in 2020, the First Generation Plus Success Center exists as a physical resource space under USC’s Student Equity and Inclusion Programs (SEIP.) Other physical centers under SEIP are the LGBTQ+ Student Center and La CASA.
The First Generation Plus Success Center serves, “undergraduate and graduate students who identify as first generation, undocumented, transfer, and former foster youth,” according to their website.
In addition to hosting events, the First Generation Plus Success Center provides undocumented and DACA recipient students with in-house resources. Students have access to an embedded counselor at no cost as well as free legal counseling every Wednesday from 12 to 2 p.m. Students are also invited to visit a SEIP lounge that relates to their identity.
For some undocumented students, this effort is not enough.
“We have the First Gen Center but you can’t help the immigrant community if you’re helping first-gen students, undocumented students, former foster youths, transfer students. The target is first-generation students and that’s simple,” said the undocumented student.
For them, a lack of support tailored to their experience makes being a college student all the more difficult. “It’s hard. I don’t get any of the resources, and I’m doing it all alone,” they said.
Another place students can look to for support is the Gould School of Law Immigration Clinic. The Gould School of Law Immigration Clinic houses the Citizenship Initiative and Immigrant Legal Assistance Center. The Citizenship Initiative helps undocumented people get on the path to becoming citizens by providing legal assistance and help with filling out the application. The Immigrant Legal Assistance Center (ILAC) provides legal services for undocumented students free of charge.
“Immigration is an issue that affects everyone. It’s a global issue. It doesn’t matter ethnicity, gender, race. It affects everyone. I see multiple ethnicities come through our office that need services,” said Jacqueline Bonilla Fuentes, the staff attorney for ILAC. Bonilla Fuentes does everything from legal consultations to referrals by herself.
Bonilla Fuentes said that she does feel supported by the university, but also stated that a university-appointed person with knowledge on how to help students would be greatly beneficial. At times when students come to her with questions, she doesn’t have the answers. “Having someone that can help students, or maybe even staff and faculty navigate the complexities of what it means (to be undocumented) within the particular question they have are ways that we can support some of the larger needs that I see,” said Bonilla Fuentes.
While these resources are important for undocumented members of USC, especially students, they are geared towards the legal side of the undocumented experience. Additionally, although undocumented students may use the First Generation Plus Success Center and any other relevant SEIP lounge, there is no physical space dedicated solely to them.
A student organization demanding change
The Undocumented Trojan Success Assembly (UTSA), formerly known as IDEAS, has been pressing the university to provide undocumented students with a physical space for years. IDEAS (Improving Dreams, Education, Access, and Success) began in 2011 with a mission to provide support and information to undocumented students. The organization was active for some time before stopping.
In 2016 IDEAS re-emerged as a result of the political climate across the country and undocumented needs on campus. In the spring of 2018, IDEAS successfully held a DREAMer Center as a pop-up in Kaprielian Hall as reported by the Daily Trojan. The center popped up again in the fall of 2018. The center only ran for a few months and stopped existing shortly after. At the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, IDEAS renamed themselves UTSA.
“UTSA hosts a lot of community events, a lot of advocacy events, and a lot of workshops to help undocumented students with certain resources. We have one at least once a week,” said Alexa Hernandez Diaz, one of UTSA’s co-executive directors. Their events and workshops can be found at the First Generation Plus Success Center and consist of topics ranging from Know Your Rights workshops to their Undoc+ Speed Dating event.
Hernandez Diaz thinks that an Undocumented Trojan Resource Center (UTRC) would greatly help undocumented students in addition to the work UTSA does. “A lot of the resources that we do have are very scattered across campus. We believe that having a centralized hub for these students will help them not just survive. They’ll actually have a centralized space where they can actually thrive, have the support, have the community, and have those resources available to them immediately.” The proposal for the UTRC can be found here.
UTSA is part of the solution at USC, however, institutional support like the creation of a UTRC may better help students. Other universities, particularly UC’s and Cal State universities have seen a lot of success with their undocumented resource centers.
Only 10 miles away from USC, Cal State Los Angeles has the Erika J. Glazer Family Dreamers Resource Center. The center provides students with study space, legal services, and resources through an Undocu Mentorship Program according to their website.
Across town, UCLA has the Undocumented Student Program (USP) that hosts social events and provides UndocuALLY training. UndocuALLY training is a program that is, “dedicated to increasing the UCLA community’s awareness of the unique needs of undocumented students,” according to UCLA’s Undocumented Student Program website. UCLA’s USP has had success in securing financial aid for students.
In 2018, the USP “provided $500 in financial aid for each of 19 undocumented students using crowdfunded money collected last quarter,” according to the Daily Bruin. A campaign formed in part by USP also, “raised approximately $16,000 last quarter to provide scholarships for undocumented students,” according to the same article. Student Eduard Solis was quoted in the article as saying, “When I first heard about (#UndocuBruins), I was thrilled,” Solis said. “Having this money allocated will help us continue our education – any type of resources, especially financial resources, are beneficial to undocumented students.”
The impact on undocumented students by the USP is making a difference, but students have called for more support from UCLA itself. In a letter to the editor published in the Daily Bruin in 2018, six students called for UCLA to “institutionalize financial support for this marginalized student population.” They cited that while the Undergraduate Students Association Council had been making strides in allocating resources to undocumented students, the university itself had more work to do in terms of its financial resources.
USC has had its fair share of students confronting its administration as well. In some meetings, administrators have expressed pushback, according to Hernandez Diaz, due to an alleged lack of space, funding, and need. “A lot of times we get questions on how many undocumented students there are, and we believe that’s a very unfair question because it’s really hard to track undocumented students,” said Hernandez Diaz.
The university’s choice not to publish data on undocumented students works to protect their identities, but with the new presidential administration, undocumented students at USC are going to need support more than ever. It’s up to USC to decide if they will follow the lead of other schools in the area, or if their students will have to continue to support themselves.