The NIU Resource Center fills information gaps about degree pathways for undocumented students

Misinformation about immigration has gained national attention this election season. However, there is also misinformation directed against immigrants, including students at Northern Illinois University.

The student-led group DreamAction NIU and the Undocumented Student Resource Center held on-campus meetings in the on-campus student center, encouraging passersby to show support for immigrants as part of the “I Am With Immigrants” day of action.

The center supports undocumented students on campus and provides information relevant to the broader immigrant community.

For example, in June, when the Biden administration announced Keeping families together immigration parole program, Lopez says they have received many inquiries.

The center arranged a Zoom call with a trusted immigration attorney to obtain information.

“There were so many misconceptions and misconceptions about what was going on,” said Dr. Sandy Lopez, the center’s director, “and people started taking money, just as families were giving thousands of dollars to start applying, and we” likewise did not There is no application yet.”

This policy would allow certain undocumented people who are married to or are the stepchild of a U.S. citizen to apply for permanent resident status in the U.S. But just days after the proposals were accepted, a federal judge halted the program.

Lopez says another program they’re getting questions about is DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

The law was created by President Obama’s executive order and has been pending in the courts since 2017.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments against the policy for a second time in October and is expected to issue a decision in the spring.

New applicants are not accepted, but renewals are.

“It’s very important for the community to know,” Lopez said, “that if you have DACA, you should renew it and make sure you renew it with enough time — six months, even a little further than six months, because it takes a long time to process time.”

Then comes the FASFA debacle, when the nation’s system for applying for higher education financial aid switched to a simplified application system. This change created a headache for both families and college administrators, but for students from mixed-status families, there was an additional hurdle to overcome. “Mixed-status families” refers to U.S.-born students who have one or more undocumented parents. The new system required parents to verify their identity.

“So if you didn’t have a Social Security number, it was harder to get verified,” Lopez said. “So there was a process that family members had to go through for verification. This deterred some people from even wanting to apply. It was a little more difficult to prove who they were: “I am who I say I am on this form.”

She said this obstacle shows the need to support students from mixed-status families across the country.

“These students don’t know who they are and they can’t afford it,” she said. “More importantly, sometimes they are afraid and don’t even apply.”

As for undocumented students, Lopez said that when she organizes outreach events, she notices that at the high school level they are still told they can’t go to college.

“There are a lot of opportunities that our students are told they can’t take advantage of, but that’s not true,” she said. “So we have a lot of misinformation and a lot of missing information.”

At NIU, Tosin helps undocumented students figure out how they will pay for college.

He is a computer science student and comes from Nigeria. This semester he is interning at the Resource Center for Undocumented Students.

“I’m in the business of providing scholarships to students,” he said, “and I’m also helping the Husky scholarship.”

Tosin said he has been receiving scholarships himself since his freshman year of college.

“The fees may be a little bit more than we can afford,” he said, “so support in the form of scholarships and grants and other things is really helpful so that we can focus more on our education.”

One of the possible ways of financing is financial assistance from the state through RISE Act application. Illinois is among the few states where eligible undocumented students can apply for state funds.