Federal agencies have limited the public benefits individuals in the country without legal status can receive. The change affects a broad swath of benefits like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), housing and unemployment.
Previously, people in the U.S. without legal status couldn’t benefit from student federal aid programs, such as Pell Grants. But now, the definition of federal aid has expanded to include funding for career and technical education (CTE) programs, GED-equivalent programs and any other postsecondary education.
For higher education institutions, that means people without legal status cannot enroll in programs funded by the federal government. College administrators also need to dedicate more resources and staff to verifying citizenship and immigration status. And they have to iron out any conflicts with state and federal policies.
Consequences for enrollment
Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) Vice President of Student Affairs Erica Spiller said her office can barely keep up with demand for adult education programs. On the day of registration, she said there were lines of people hoping to enroll wrapped around the building. Seats filled up in hours.
Spiller said barring potential students from registering for classes means the school won’t be able to help fill Iowa's job vacancies. DMACC offers programs that feed directly into career fields that need more people, like health care and truck driving.
"I'm genuinely concerned about the impact to the local Iowa economy if our enrollment numbers in any of these areas would drop."Erica Spiller, DMACC vice president of student affairs
“I'm genuinely concerned about the impact to the local Iowa economy if our enrollment numbers in any of these areas would drop,” Spiller said.
For students that do have legal status, adding a step to verify their citizenship would be an administrative burden, according to Spiller. The more time it takes for a student to go through an application, the higher the chance a student would drop out of the registration process entirely.
Verifying students’ legal status is a challenge for staff, too. Spiller already pulls staff from other departments to help register students for high-demand classes. Under the new guidelines released by the federal government, DMACC would need to take the time to verify citizenship during that process.
“This would be a significant change that I don't know if it would require more staffing or if we'd have to offer fewer services to manage the volume,” she said.
In July, the Trump administration also froze federal funds for a few weeks. While the money was eventually disbursed to schools, administrators and students are concerned that they might see another pause in the future.
“There still is sort of a culture of fear or concern that, well, what if it freezes again? Do I want to get a year into this program? Do I want to get two of my five assessments done and then I can't finish, or can't get my test scores, or do all these sorts of things?” Spiller said.
Conflicting policies
Because the U.S. Department of Education reinterpreted an already existing law, the changes go into effect immediately. But Spiller said the new policy conflicts with other state and federal laws, and she hasn’t received enough guidance from state and federal partners yet.
To lower barriers for students to obtain higher education, DMACC doesn’t require certain pieces of information — such as a student's immigration status or high school transcript — for certain programs.
"We really need the answer now."Erica Spiller
DMACC is also barred from requesting certain information. For example, high school students who want to be dual enrolled in college classes would need to verify citizenship under the new Trump policy, but officials are not allowed to ask for K-12 students’ immigration status.
People under 21 who have been incarcerated are required by Iowa law to have access to education for a high school equivalent diploma. DMACC provides instruction to them, but Spiller said the new policy doesn’t clarify if DMACC is still required to provide that instruction if the person incarcerated is not a citizen.
“We really need the answer now,” she said.
Spiller said the new policy affects broad groups of people and many different laws. She’s still working through scenarios to anticipate how it will impact DMACC's current and future students.
