[00:00:00] All right. Good morning, everyone. So you are here, uh, for this MEFA Institute webinar entitled Supporting Students and Families with Unique Immigration Statuses in the Postsecondary Planning Process. Um, so this webinar is geared toward high school counselors and educators. If you are a family joining, um, we welcome you to stay, and also know that there’s a family-specific webinar, um, posted right now on mefa.org.

All right. So we are gonna get started here with some housekeeping. Um, a lot of you have joined Zoom webinars before, but just wanna, um, reiterate that our chat feature is disabled for this webinar. Um, so if you have any questions or wanna get in touch with me right now live, uh, we prefer that you use the Q&A feature.

Um, so please type in a question anytime. We have a lot to get through today. If I’m doing my [00:01:00] job, I hope to pack this one hour with just the, the most requested and most frequently asked questions that we normally get and that I’ve, um, experienced as a counselor. And so I think we’ll get to a lot of your questions, but if you need some clarification or a little bit, um, something like re-explained, please let me know in the Q&A.

And then also know that you can get in touch with me, um, separately after the webinar. I always welcome outreach from counselors who wanna get on a phone or a, a quick Zoom and thought partner, um, about a particular situation they might be experiencing. Um, a little bit about MEFA. We are a state authority.

We were created by the Commonwealth in 1982, and our mission has always been, since the beginning, to help families plan, save, and pay for college. And families, we mean all families, right? Not just some families. And so certainly, this population that we’re gonna be [00:02:00] talking t- about today is a population that continues to grow and shift.

Um, demographics shift across the state, um, every few years. You know, regions that may have not seen a ton of immigration are now seeing a l- um, a, you know, bigger waves of folks coming in from different countries of origin. And so it’s definitely something that Keeps shifting in Massachusetts, and we always like to make this content available because we know a lot of you, um, you know, may have, you know, come across this in the past, but maybe are coming across this more in your day-to-day practice.

Uh, please get in touch with me anytime. Um, I formerly was a high school college and career counselor in East Boston. Prior to that, I was a trio counselor. I myself am an immigrant from, uh, Mexico and a first-gen college student. And so I’ve certainly lived much of what’s in this presentation on [00:03:00] a personal level, but also on a professional level, counseling families and really making this, um, something that is a topic that’s near and dear to my heart, that I’ve spent a lot of time over the last ten years sort of, um, educating myself on and really deep diving on.

But caveat is I am, uh, not, uh, currently undocumented, so I want to place myself as an ally here. I never want my voice to eclipse other voices. So this, this is really coming, uh, this presentation’s from the lens of a former counselor, um, really curating resources that I believe other counselors should know.

So that is really my frame coming into this. I’m also not an immigration attorney, um, so I will leave all of that to, to the experts, and you’ll hear me say throughout, um, it’s always a really good idea to connect students to, uh, trusted legal aid. Um, we can only really, uh, do as much as we can do in, in a school day, but always [00:04:00] pointing them to the right people outside of school, um, is paramount I want to just acknowledge and ground ourselves in that this topic is really hard.

Um, for me, it’s hard personally, it’s hard professionally. We all bring our own stories. We might, um, ourselves be immigrants. We might have friends, neighbors, obviously our students. So even if you don’t have any personal experience with this identity, I do wanna say your story is also very important. But I want you to acknowledge your awareness, your knowledge level, um, and lean into the growth, right?

This topic is really hard. Um, things shift very rapidly. There’s a lot of good news in this, in this arena, but a lot of, uh, not so good news for our students who are fully undocumented. And then, of course, there are students that have m- [00:05:00] many variations of different types of statuses. So it is a spectrum, it is not black and white.

It is hard. You’re not gonna be an expert overnight, um, but just lean in, keep asking questions, and of course, you’re, you’re doing the most important thing, which is, um, attending sessions like these, uh, to really, uh, you know, inform yourself and know where the resources are. Um, so these are my grounding best practices.

Um, throughout today’s hour, I will be echoing back to these three practices. The first one is know your community. Um, work Work to understand what is your hyperlocal context because that is going to impact how you do work at your particular school or organization. For example, when I worked in East Boston in, in the, you know, seven years, eight years that I was there, um, we saw immigration waves shift even [00:06:00] for us.

The first few years, we saw a lot of families from Colombia, and then we saw a lot of families from, um, Morocco, Algeria, uh, and, you know, each country of origin has its own sort of, um, immigration trends and situations that they might be working through. The way that our immigration system is built right now, it really depends on your country of origin, what relief has been available to those countries.

And so there are trends we see where a certain country might have a lot of asylum cases. Um, some countries might have temporary protected status. And so it’s not a one-size-fits-all, of course, but knowing your hyperlocal context will allow you to notice trends and will allow you to, um, you know, amass a collection of resources tailored to those trends that you’re seeing.

Um, my second best practice is [00:07:00] student self-disclosure is paramount. Uh, the earlier that students self-disclose to us, the more that we’ll be able to provide them with the resources earlier. Um, even just a thought partnership, even just encouragement. You know, I’d rather a ninth grader self-disclose and have four years of encouragement to say, “Hey, don’t let your grades drop.

I know it might feel discouraging to be undocumented, but you got this. There’s options for you. The higher your grades are, the better.” Of course, that’s a dream scenario, right? To have a ninth grader self-disclose, so you have four years with them to kind of be, um, encouraging them. Um, most often than not, you’ll get eleventh and twelfth graders self-disclosing.

But in any case, self-disclosure is so important because the more that you know as an educator, the more you can point them to the right resources, the right paths. Sometimes students themselves don’t really know their statuses, and so this is something that, uh, when I’m training counselors, I always make a point to say [00:08:00] even when a student self-discloses, um, they might say, “Hey, Miss, I’m undocumented.”

Um, we should be following up to say, “Hey, you know, thank you for sharing that with me. Can you tell me a little bit more about this? You know, when did you all c- come to the country? Did you have any status at any point?” Um, and sometimes we don’t want to lean in, not because we don’t care, but because we’re afraid we’re gonna say something wrong or, um, you know, maybe, maybe we think, oh, it’s immigration, so we have to keep it very hush-hush.

And I want to encourage educators to kind of liberate that climate, right? Um, and model talking about immigration, which leads me to m- the third best practice. Myth bust whenever possible. Um, don’t stay silent. Uh, but also no answer sometimes is better than the wrong answer. So sometimes we overcompensate and don’t really ask follow-up questions because we don’t wanna [00:09:00] give the wrong answer and then lead them even more, you know, into a, a difficult path.

But I wanna encourage you to keep this line in your back pocket, and if we were live, I would make you say it out loud with me a few times. D- Please don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know. But you know what? I’m on this journey with you, and we’ll figure it out. I will make sure we get an accurate answer for this.”

Right? Because most of the time you won’t know, but you need to say something like this: “I don’t know. But I’m here with you. We’ll figure it out. I will make sure we get an accurate answer.” Right? And that’s when you tell the student, “Hey, let’s check back in in a few days, and maybe in the meantime, you come back to this webinar, or you email me, or you email a colleague that you think will, will know the answer,” and you always loop back with the student.

Get ready to get creative with this population And then, uh, last little nugget of advice is [00:10:00] I, that kind of ties into the know your hyperlocal context one, is I always encourage counseling teams to do at least two roll calls a year for this population. Doesn’t have to be very long, fifteen, twenty minutes at the beginning of the year in person where you’re all in a room together saying, “All right, what do we know about our students?

Who do we think is undocumented? Who self-disclosed?” You know, and just kind of put it all out there in person, nothing in writing. We’ll get into some of the nitty-gritty, but I… of, of that, of sort of what you can and can’t do. But roll calling it, getting out, it out in the open as a team, just a, an insular counseling team, if you’re a team of one or a team of two or a team of eight, um, is really important because that way you’ll be able to point those students to the right resources.

Maybe you’ve heard that your local community college has a scholarship for undocumented students. Maybe you’ve heard another college does. So if you can piece together the resources you know [00:11:00] exist with the population that needs it and then actually make a strategy for each student, um, that could go a long way I have best practices for how to do this with a smaller caseload, larger caseload.

Um, so if you wanna kind of talk a little bit about what this might look like at y-your institution, I’m always game to, to thought-partner and help you come up with a plan. So this is your homework for today. Um, please make a-an effort to do this at some point. I want you to bring back these self-re-reflection questions to your school, to your team.

Again, if you’re a team of one, maybe it’s just you, um, kind of just sitting for ten, fifteen minutes, going through your caseload, just trying to under– you know, recall things that you’ve heard. Um, what countries are mostly represented in your school or organization? Are there statuses that you’ve heard that are more prevalent for certain countries?

Maybe last year you had two seniors who [00:12:00] had temporary protected status. Make a note of all of those pieces in your mind, right? Um, do we have a large population of undocumented students? What i– what are our recent trends? Um, if you’re new to your school, connect with other counselors, administration that have been around a little longer, and ask these fact-finding questions.

And then, of course, for the college and career planning process and post-secondary planning process, where have students in the past gone after high school? So generally speaking, you are the expert in your hyperlocal context, and so y-you might say, “Hey, I know that these two colleges have been really undocu friendly in the past,” um, and then again, you share that with newer counselors, et cetera.

Um, UndocuPlus students at risk of being unhoused, self-supporting, what do we know about where these students have gone in the past? And just to briefly pause, UndocuPlus is kind of the new term. It encompasses not just [00:13:00] students that are undocumented, but might, might be documented or might have other, um, types of immigration relief but are not eligible for federal financial aid.

So, uh, you might hear me say UndocuPlus, uh, during the, um, our time together. Um, great. And I, again, wanna, uh, repeat myself, please enter pieces in the chat if you have any questions that are popping up. I might not, um, answer them immediately, but I will keep track of them and try to weave them in throughout and then leave hopefully a little time at the end, but I normally go right until the hour.

All right. So now that we’ve built a little context around my philosophy-ish of how to kind of understand this population and kinda start to tackle this at your schools, I wanna do a little bit of a deep dive on statuses Um, this is a section of the presentation that I’ve actually, um, worked on and to [00:14:00] iterate because I used to just kind of mention a few pieces throughout.

Um, but I find that a lot of you often ask, you know, what about this status or what about that status or what do I need to know? I, I can’t be an expert, so give me sort of the, the headlines. Um, so this is my effort to do that. Um, you will get a copy of these slides, uh, post-webinar, and so please download them, use them as a guide.

Um, again, I’m not an immigration attorney, but everything in this presentation has been vetted, um, and it is accurate as of today. So, um, you know, of course, in maybe next year you download the new slides, um, because things are always, um, you know, a little shifting sands in the world of immigration here in the US.

All right. So the immigration system in the US, many of you, I don’t have to tell you, it is really complicated, and it is not the most friendly. Um, just to give you a little perspective, I lived, um… [00:15:00] Once I got my immigration relief, I lived in France for a few years after my undergrad, and I came to find out that in France, you might know this already, I could live there for a certain, um, number of years and if I had a few, you know, certain requirements fulfilled and I learned the language and passed a language exam, written and oral, I could become a French citizen.

Meaning that anyone that’s moving to France, you know, following certain very concrete steps could eventually become a citizen. And those paths were very clearly laid out and very much accessible, obviously with the right, uh, sort of pre-work and steps being taken. Think about that for a minute. That does not exist at all in the United States.

It is very, very difficult for [00:16:00] someone from a different country to immigrate and go through certain steps and within a few years become a citizen. There is really no pathway to citizenship that is that clear and that easy. Um, and I’m not calling the French immigration system easy, but, um, compared to what we have here in the US, it is, it is, um, very, very different.

It takes on average ten to sixteen years for a skilled worker, so someone that maybe is coming here on an employment-sponsored visa, maybe has a doctorate from a different country, is being, uh, sort of sponsored by a company to come and, and, you know, work, and then eventually that company could maybe sponsor them.

But even for those folks that have advanced degrees, that are following all the steps, on average ten to sixteen years to even get on a pathway to citizenship What about the rest of us? Much, much [00:17:00] longer, if at all. Um, it is a very closed-off system. So again, I don’t need to tell you this is why the push for a comprehensive reform matters.

This is why there’s been, um, attempts over the years to pass what’s called the DREAM Act, uh, to try to create pathways to citizenship for certain populations. Um, in the case of the DREAM Act that never passed, um, it would be for those younger, younger kids that were brought into the US, um, with no status, growing up here, making a life for themselves here.

So that’s what the DREAM Act wanted to do, is create a pathway for them to get on to eventually become citizens. That never passed. We need something like that, right? Because many, many students are getting sort of, um, left, you know, wanting to be contributing cit-citizens and wanting to contribute to this country they’ve known, um, but, but can’t really get on that path.

So I want to define undocumented. It is a status, not an [00:18:00] identity, although for a lot of our students, it becomes a very, very important part of their identity, which, you know, as counselors, we can always kinda help combat that a little bit to say, “You are not defined by your status. Um, it is not your whole identity.

You are much more than that.” But it’s a person that’s living in a country without the immigration status or authorization required under that country’s current immigration laws. So in the US, it can be anyone that entered without any immigration authorization, so from the moment they set foot here, they had nothing, no, no documentation, no status.

But maybe the second category could be someone that entered lawfully but then later fell out of status. Um, so maybe a temporary visa, they let that expire, or they couldn’t reapply. It’s very, very costly to reapply for these things. So sometimes, uh, the cost is prohibitive, and that is one reason why some folks can’t continue to renew their status.

[00:19:00] Perhaps they had an immigration application, petition, or status that ended or was denied, or, you know, in the case of the dreamers that I just, um, talked about, they were brought to the US as children and never had a permanent immigration status. And some of them may have had DACA, which is an exemption from deportation.

It is not a status. So that gave them some temporary relief. But then what? Some points I wanna make here is that a person’s immigration status can change over time. Our immigration system, for as closed off as it is, can evolve and does evolve. So every few years, there might be amendments to certain pieces.

So it’s always really important that, you know, as we’re helping students with the college process, post-secondary planning process, that we’re also saying, “Hey, you know, have, have you and your families, you know, talked to immigration, um, an immigration attorney?” Like, you know, h-have you gone back to do that?

Because every five– we recommend every five years to go [00:20:00] have another legal screening ’cause it’s possible that the laws have changed enough for that family to now be candidates to seek some sort of immigration relief. I find that it’s not obviously an, uh, an automatic thing, but having that measure of control to say, “Hey, okay, I can take control of this and go seek legal help for now,” can give students a lot of that agency back to say, “Okay, I wanna study, I wanna do this after high school, but I’m also feeling dragged down by this ambiguity in my immigration status.”

Pointing students to immigration, um, legal clinics or just planting a seed to say, “Hey, you know, every five years it is recommended that families seek, you know, the opinion of a legal, um, of a legal resource to see if they might qualify for anything new,” might just be a little bug in someone’s ear that can just introduce a little bit more agency and a sense of control over their lives.

Um, and then of course, undocumented does not mean that a [00:21:00] person’s a criminal. An immigration violation does not automatically mean that a person has committed a crime. That is oftentimes a misconception. Um, you might hear there’s a term called immigration parole that d- that is very, um, very tied to immigration and not criminal acts.

So there’s just a lot of, um, sort of false information out there around this point. And, um, yeah, I think really trying to just talk about this more, right, with students and just have it be something that lives and breathes and isn’t hidden away or feeling secret. Um, people-centered language does matter, so of course, undocumented, undocu plus, immigrant.

Um, some of you might have migrant families that come and work here temporarily. All of those terms are people-centered. They’re great. We wanna avoid the terms that are have the three Xs there. [00:22:00] A lot of students might call themselves the I word, illegal, and take that moment to do a little bit of, you know, pause and explain to them why, you know, that word isn’t, you know, something that is people-centered, right?

Um, can reinforce stigma for sure. Alien, unauthorized, we hear those words a ton. Alien is outdated. It’s dehumanizing. Um, and we still see that word being used in financial aid applications, um, and in other types of, of contexts. So just, just a note for us All right, so here we have a little cheat sheet, um, of the most common statuses.

This is not all exhaustive, but it pretty much covers everything we might see. [00:23:00] I don’t think I’ve missed anything, but again, there’s things that are fluid, right? And even within one particular status, there might be some, um, some variations I want to be also very clear, I included undocumented here.

Obviously, that’s a lack of status. And then I did include DACA here just because it’s a label that we hear a lot, even though it’s not technically a status. It is just simply relief, uh, exemption from deportation. For the most part, you will not see many DACA students anymore. It was a band-aid fix back in twenty twelve, um, when the DREAM Act didn’t passed back– didn’t pass back then.

Um, the Obama administration came up with this, meant to be a temporary band-aid fix to give certain young folks relief and exemption from deportation and a work permit. But the way the DACA, um, DACA requirements are labeled, you have to have entered the country before, um, [00:24:00] twenty twelve. And so for a lot of our students now, that was eons ago.

Um, so you might not see a lot of the younger students, uh, our students currently, uh, with DACA. But it’s still, you know, there is a dwindling population of DACA holders. Um, they can still renew in many cases. Um, but you won’t be seeing them really come through your offices. Maybe older siblings might have DACA.

Parents at this point might have DACA. Those young folks are now parents in many cases, might have DACA. Um, but for our, our purposes now for these current classes, we won’t really see those. Uh, I– The point I want to make here is you don’t have to be an expert on all these statuses. Right? You just have to know that this is a spectrum, that there’s a lot of nuance here as well, and that it’s fluid in many, many cases.

Families might start off with one status and then [00:25:00] start petitions to seek immigration relief w– through another status. And so just know that. Right? And again, you don’t have to know what each of these things actually means unless you’re like me and want to do more research and really kind of, um, you have the time, but it does take time, right?

And, and many of us don’t have that. So this is the cheat sheet. These, these are statuses that might come through. The ones highlighted in yellow are the ones that are eligible for federal financial aid, so Title IV funds. All right. So notice with the asylum, we’ve highlighted asylum granted. The asylum has to have been granted in order for the student to be eligible to file a FAFSA The asylum pending folks will have a work authorization, will have a Social Security number, but aren’t FAFSA eligible.

Um, and so that’s just something to note. Again, [00:26:00] going back to why self-disclosure matters, because once a student self-discloses to you, you can ask follow-up questions. You know, if they say, “I have asylum,” you might say, “Hey, do you know if it’s granted or if it’s pending?” That’s the level of, I think, education that you all, um, hopefully will feel comfortable saying and doing at some point, uh, if not after this presentation, maybe at some point in your l- in your professional, uh, or this school year, because it’s those little tiny pieces that, again, you might not be sitting down and doing the whole FAFSA with them, maybe you refer them to MEFA or to others, but getting them on that right track, um, is really important, and the earlier we do that, the better.

So again, little follow-up questions like that of like, “Hey, you said you had asylum. Do you know if it’s granted or, or pending? ‘Cause that actually might make a big difference in whether you file a FAFSA or a MASFA.” Um, permanent residents, um, there’s Cuban Haitian entrants. This is very interesting. Um, if you have a ca- a case where a student tells you, [00:27:00] um, self-discloses and says, “Hey, I’m a Haitian, uh, refugee,” or, “I came in through the Biden program.”

There’s, you know, oftentimes we hear of the Biden program, which is a very short-lived program, um, that the Biden administration created called CHNV. It’s since been, um, disbanded, but it offered humanitarian parole and relief to, um, to certain countries. Some of those students, depending on how they came into the country, if they have an I-94, what paperwork was filed, could still be eligible for FAFSA.

And so this is where just asking a few follow-up questions and then connecting to, say, me or someone else that might, a financial aid office, um, can, can help the student actually piece together more, more of, of what they’re eligible for. But you can get them started. You can get them on that path. The T visa is the only visa that’s eligible for financial aid, um, victims of hu- human [00:28:00] trafficking.

There are other, um, folks in that umbrella that might not have a T visa but might have a letter, um, sh- uh, saying that. And so again, there’s a little bit of, um- wiggle room in what the federal government will accept for verification. So if you’re in that kinda tricky situation with a student where you’re not sure, always use that line that I shared at the beginning of the presentation saying, “I don’t know right now, but I’m gonna fact-find, and let’s…

You know, I’m in this with you, and let’s check back in in a few minute- in a few days, and, um, I’ll hopefully have an answer for you.” Right? And then meanwhile, you’re emailing me, you’re emailing other colleagues, a college financial aid office to try to get to the bottom of is the student eligible or not.

Um, so again, don’t feel like you have to ha- have the answer for the student live in the moment. Always use that line that we, uh, practiced at the beginning of the, of the presentation. I don’t… I’m not seeing any q- [00:29:00] questions for the moment, so let’s move on. Um, these are some of the cards that you… or the two cards that you’ll see attached to, to some of these statuses.

So for example, an asylum pending student will have the employment authorization card, which is the blue and red. Uh, asylum granted will have the green card, the permanent resident card Both of these cards give the holder a USCIS number, which is asked for in the FAFSA. So that is why there’s sometimes confusion.

A student thinks if they have an employment authorization card, they can file a FAFSA. Technically speaking, they can make an FSA ID because they’ll have a social, but they won’t actually– Once their, um, SSA verification is done, they won’t actually be eligible to receive money. So we want to avoid students that don’t need to fill out a FAFSA or can’t get fa-funding, um, from the government to not fill out a FAFSA, and if they qualify, fill out a MASFA instead.

So that this [00:30:00] could be a, an example of a follow-up question that you have where, you know, a student says, “Hey, I have a card that, you know, um, I have a work authorization,” or, “I have a green card.” You might say, “Hey, that’s amazing. Would you mind, you know, um, like would you mind when you come in, you know, bringing, bringing in what you have, the, the paperwork?

We could take a look.” Always kinda double-check, um, and feel empowered to ask those follow-up questions because they’ve already self-disclosed to you, and we’ll get into the self-disclosure bit in a minute. Um, the I-94 is another type of sort of, uh, physical, um, pa- sort of physical proof of a status, and it, you know, just because they have an I-94 doesn’t mean that they qualify for FAFSA.

But the I-94 takes the place of like a card and just tells you what status the student has. It’s called an arrival/departure record. The newer, the younger students and families that have more recently come through the U– into the U.S. will have a [00:31:00] virtual, so electronic I-94, um, and you’ll see the I-94 will tell, um, tell us what status they have.

So you can see the class of admission B-1. And of course, you know, financial aid offices and, and, uh, administration professionals will know what codes are eligible for FAFSA or not. It’s not your job to know the code, but just your job to kinda know that these things exist, and you can always ask students to bring it in and, and take a peek.

Um, and then again, call me, call someone else, and gut check, um, on this. You should know that cur- the current immigration landscape currently as of twenty twenty-six, it is tricky. What we’re seeing that we didn’t see, say, five, ten years ago is just more rapid policy shifts. Things are happening quickly.

The, uh, Department of Homeland Security, DHS guidance, executive actions, federal court decisions, things just are noisy, [00:32:00] and there’s a lot of movement and just sh- a lot of shifting sands. This is why I’m always saying, you know, for families, it’s always good to every few years go back and just double-check, are we eligible for anything?

‘Cause they might be. Unfortunately, in our current, uh, federal context, things are not immigrant-friendly. So that might not happen as much these days where s- a family suddenly is eligible for something, but it might. So our advising should always rely on current information rather than past practice.

DACA’s remaining super limited, um, but again, we might not see many DACA students. We might see DACA parents. Um, and just a lot of changes to humanitarian, uh, protections, and this is where we’re gonna spend a little time. DHS, Department of Homeland Security, has moved to terminate or limit several very significant programs that have sort of held the fabric of many immigrant communities [00:33:00] intact for decades.

Chief among these is Temporary Protected Status, TPS. And so this is where knowing your hyperlocal context will come in handy because some countries are more affected than others. If certain countries were granted this type of relief, suddenly the Trump administration, the federal, you know, the DHS is terminating these programs.

So we’re really sort of at a tough moment for our families that might start the year, even the academic year, with one status and end it with another or lack thereof. Knowing that I think is empowering. I hope you hear that, and of course, we all feel sad and, and discouraged at times, but I hope you hear that as, “Okay, I now know the context that my students are trying to navigate,” rather than, “Oh my gosh, now I feel so overwhelmed.

I have to know everything.” And you really don’t. You just have to be a partner to them. So I do wanna, [00:34:00] um, do a quick spotlight on temporary protected status ’cause this is the, um, one immigration status that I feel like has gotten, uh, acutely attacked in the last few years or months. Um, in Massachusetts, we have a, as you know, a huge immigrant population and a lot of temporary protective status holders.

One in five workers in Massachusetts, according to MIRA, the Massachusetts Immigrant Refugee Advocacy Coalition, is an immigrant. Most likely, they have either temporary protective status or some sort of immigration relief that provides them a work authorization, that blue and red card I showed you Temporary protective status is a humanitarian protection.

It’s been around for decades. It is usually one of those statuses where doesn’t grant you a green card, doesn’t grant you a pathway to citizenship. [00:35:00] You’re stuck on that blue and red card, never the green. But it, what it had going for it is that it was steady. Congress would reauthorize temporary protective status for countries.

Um, normally the, the temporary protective status was good for two years, and then Congress would reauthorize it. Um, tem- temporary protective status is usually given to citizens of certain countries based on what’s happening in that country, whether it’s a war, humanitarian crisis, um, an environmental crisis.

And so the US government would grant relief and temporary protected status to folks of that country. For the most part, these statuses have been very steady because issues like that in the origin country weren’t solved, you know, in a few years, so Congress would keep reauthorizing them until recently.

And [00:36:00] so if a family or student has temporary protective status or had, there are, uh, there are a few, few things. They’re either gonna get renewed, so every two, three years they get renewed, or the temporary protective status is gonna get terminated For the most part this year because of federal things, many countries’ TPSs have actually been terminated, which is pretty, um, disas- disastrous, um, and really, really awful because for so many years these countries were just getting reauthorized.

And I have families who were… have been here for 20 years on TPS, for 10 years, and suddenly it’s being, they’re being terminated. Their TPS is being terminated. So this is why self-disclosure matters. This is why a student telling [00:37:00] you, “I think we have, uh, I have a work authorization,” and then fact-finding do you know what status you have that gave you that work authorization?

Because if it turns out a family has TPS, it might be that, uh, their TPS has been terminated. Usually, if a country’s TPS is terminated, the families do know that. But it’s not also a cause for immediate concern in that they’re not gonna get deported tomorrow. All right? Um, but what they should be doing is consulting legal counselor- counsel if their TPS is terminated to hopefully explore other types of immigration relief, potential family petitions, asylum, special immigrant juvenile status.

If a s- a student’s here, um, unaccompanied and has faced different types of hardships, they might qualify for special immigrant juvenile status. The VAWA, Violence Against Women Act, um, that covers all, all folks, not just, uh, women identifying. U [00:38:00] visa, potential employment options. So if a TPS is terminated, that doesn’t mean the s- the family has to leave tomorrow, and they should be exploring other types of immigration relief.

As of October 26th, which is when I created this slide, these are the countries and, um, their current TPS status. You can see I actually did a variation of this presentation for another group in July, and even in July, we didn’t see this many, these many terminations. So this happened very, very recently.

You can see a, a many in August. The ones that I, I think we’ll, we’ll feel acutely, um, in our areas are Venezuela, Ukraine, you know, Haiti, El Salvador. You know, you might have a Somalian population near you. So again, this is why I really advise you all to have a roll call that you’re doing, um, as a staff community to say, “Hey, what countries are [00:39:00] we seeing come through our school?”

And just let’s keep our ears peeled, our eyes peeled, our little antennas out. If we hear of this, you know, we k- we kinda know. Um, this list is for context only, right? So if a student is from one of these countries and has TPS, um, we always want to just always fact check with the student after they self-disclose.

Their c- their family might already be in some sort of other legal proceeding. I think another way that we can help our families as counselors once the student self-discloses is just having regular check-ins to say, “Hey, how’s it going? Do you have any, you know, court dates coming up? Do you need to be excused?”

Having absences excused, working with teachers, maybe not, not self-disclosing themselves to teachers, but w- you as a counselor working with teachers to say, “Hey, the student has a family event that’s really important on this [00:40:00] date. I’m helping them, um, you know, make sure that the teachers excuse them and give them makeup work.”

You know, there are little bits like that that we have agency over in our classrooms and in our schools. Um, I’m gonna pause right here, and I’m just gonna take a few … I’m just gonna read through our Q&As. We have three pieces open, so you all can kind of also look. Um, yes, it- this counselor’s saying, “A lot of students often get confused between the Social Security card and work authorization.

We have had to ask more often for the student to bring in the card to clarify what financial forms to fill out.” Yeah. I do want to make a point though that the Social Security card, they get it regardless of what h- hard card they have. So if they have a work authorization card or a permanent resident card, they’re most likely also gonna have a Social Security card.

So I would not base financial aid eligibility on the light blue paper Social Security card. [00:41:00] I would base financial aid eligibility on the actual work authorization, permanent resident card, I-94. And if possible, ask permission to call home or just say, “Do you think your mom or dad or your caregiver would be willing to just, um, talk to me a little bit?”

Or maybe when they come in for parent-teacher conferences, you say, “Hey,” put a note on their file and say, “Come s- go to the counseling suite,” and t- talk to them privately in a room and just say, “Hey, what other information can you share with me that might, you know, help me point you to the right application?”

So yeah, always checking documents if, obviously, the trust is there and has been built, um, but not relying on the blue paper flimsy Social Security card, okay? Always relying on the actual, um, immigration documentation. Social Security cards are not immigration documentation in that sense. They’re really only Social Security Administration-produced cards.

Um, [00:42:00] a lot of the Social Security cards might also though say, “For work only,” which could give you a hint that they’re not permanent residents, but I would still fact-find with other supporting documents Um, yeah, so someone else said, “What I’ve seen most often over the years is the paper blue and white Social Security card, but what’s typed on it is work authorization number.

But it’s so confusing for students because it’s typed on the Social Security card template.” Yeah, and I would, I would always double-check in that case, you know, to see if they have other supporting documents, um, because that will help us truly understand, uh, what’s going on behind that and, um, you know, if they have TPS, it’s, if it’s been, um, expired, ’cause oftentimes those Social Security cards don’t have an expiration date, right?

Because they’re not immigration documents. Um, so they’re helpful to a point. I think you can play detective a little, and that’ll give you a clue. Um, but it’s not what we should be [00:43:00] verifying for financial aid

Yeah, so I’m saying that if students receive a Social Security card, they most likely also have a work authorization or a permanent resident card as well. Yeah Um, another p- um, counselor is asking, “I have a student who was born in the US and is a legal citizen, or is a little legal per- legal resident or legal citizen.

Her mother and siblings who have lost TPS are facing deportation proceedings. What resources can I direct them to and how can I help?” Perfect. We’ll cover that in just a second. Thank you so much for, for that. I’m gonna just mark these as answered. Uh, ch, ch, ch. Okay. So I do wanna also point out, um, that these countries had TPS that was terminated earlier.

So Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Cameroon, and Afghanistan, unfortunately. [00:44:00] So when a family’s TPS ends, we wanna encourage them con- to consult a qualified immigration attorney or DOJ-accredited representative immediately. Time is of the essence. Don’t assume they have to leave the US immediately. Court orders, appeals, or other immigration applications may affect their ability to remain in the country.

So for you, obviously, we– our role as educators is to identify concerns, connect families with reliable resources, right? But we’re not determining eligibility for immigration benefits. We’re just trying to understand so that we can help them with their application processes and their planning and obviously mental health.

Um, but we’re not the ones that are determining eligibility for immigration benefits. So if a student mentions that a parent’s TPS ending, you could say something like this: “Because immigration policies are changing quickly, I recommend speaking with a qualified immigration legal services provider ASAP to review your family’s [00:45:00] options, or there may be other forms of relief.

Here are some local community resources. Let me know how it goes. We’ll continue to plan for your life after high school because regardless of immigration status, you can fill in the blanks.” Uh, we wanna make sure that families are receiving advice that’s tailored to their specific circumstances. Um, and so let me actually go forward just a tiny bit, um, and show you this Um, so we wanna search for trusted legal aid.

So if a family’s not currently working with a lawyer, you can point them to MIRA’s, um, directory. The Massachusetts Immigrant Refugee Advocacy Coalition has a tremendous directory of legal aid that’s organized by region. Um, Western Mass, Central Mass, Boston area, north of Boston, south of Boston. Um, so if a family’s completely at a loss, has never worked with [00:46:00] anyone legally in the past few years, um, just giving them that information would be tremendous.

Again, our job’s not to be their immigration lawyer, but I find, just to go back to the larger context, that if families receive some sort of encouragement, that that does wonders for the student’s, uh, motivation to get all of their other stuff in school done, right? And so it kind of, it’s like parallel paths.

Um, I also wanna point you to Immigrants Rising, um, which originally started, was originally started by Educator Allies. Um, and so wanna just, uh, briefly tell you that if you have students that are wondering, “Well, I’m fully undocumented. Can I work for myself? Can I own a business?” Immigrants Rising is a tremendous resource that is, uh, student facing, so students can go in and research about all different types of, uh, [00:47:00] options available to them kind of after high school.

They have tremendous, um, student-led, um, spaces. Um, so really, really love Immigrants Rising. And then the City of Boston, I know you all are calling in from different areas in Massachusetts, so there might be something similar in your area. Um, the, but the City of Boston does do biweekly immigration consultations with volunteer immigration lawyers.

They’re all, um, confidential by phone. You have to, um- Book an appointment. Um, but students can go and families can go in, tell their story, and see if they might qualify for other types of immigration relief. Again, point them to these resources, check in on them constantly, and then don’t let them stop doing their other high school stuff, right?

And be there to support and, and kind of give them what they need. All right, so we are going to t- uh, talk a little bit about financial aid. Um, I did … Uh, oh, actually, give me one second. Sorry about this. I did wanna just [00:48:00] point out that I do have a section in here about self-disclosing safely. Um, and just wanted to kind of close the loop on that ’cause I’ve been talking about self-disclosure a lot.

Um, the … Again, I already said this. The earlier we can, we know, the better. And so just wanna reiterate, um, that you all can never ask a student or family their immigration status, um, and that it comes directly from a legal precedent set by Plyler versus Doe in 1982 that gives any student access to a free public education in the US regardless of immigration status.

So we can never ask. But once a student self-discloses, I want you to feel like you can bring it up again respectfully and when appropriate. If you suspect that there might be an immigration concern, you can use open-ended questions such as, “Is there anything else you might want to share with me that might allow me to help you in your proc- in your process?”

Always avoid writing emails with sensitive [00:49:00] information, but especially before a student or family has given you permission. So what I normally say, um, to folks is that when a student self-discloses, the first thing you have to say is, “Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. I know it’s so, so hard, and I feel, like, so honored that you chose to, like, share this with me.”

And then what I tell my counselor friends is always ask them a follow-up question, which is, “Is it okay if I share this with…” fill in the blank. And it might be your counseling director. It might be a counselor colleague. Be very specific about who you’re gonna share it with, and most of the time the student says yes.

If the student says no, you say, “Is it okay if I share details about the story, but not your name and not attach it to you so I can still give you help and get you access to resources?” And students usually say yes to that. Once they see that you actually do follow up and get them access to resources, they might actually end up saying, “Okay, Miss, yeah, you can [00:50:00] share, you can share my name with your colleague.”

Um, but that’s also really important for you to kinda have a record and, you know, you can tell your director or a colleague, “Hey, so and so self-disclosed to me. They gave me, gave me permission to tell you.” And just creates a li- little bit of a record that that happened so that then you can feel, uh, completely comfortable going back to the student, um, probably discreetly at some point on a one-on-one or something saying, “Hey, like, thanks again for sharing that with me last week.

Can I ask you a few follow-up questions? Um, is there anything else you wanna tell me? Let’s talk about how this might affect your financial aid process.” And then you can feel like you can be really open about it, um, with students after. Um- So I want, wanted just to point to that I have those sort of, um, information pieces in here.

I did get… This is great. Um, I did a training for, uh, BU path advisors, um, over the summer, and one [00:51:00] advisor, s- um, her second year, shared this activity with me, so I wanna give credit where credit is due. I help thought partner with her a little bit after. But what she had, um, all students do, the entire senior class at different moments, whether it was their senior seminar or whatever, was guide every single student through the OSFA, the Massachusetts Office of Student Financial Assistance questionnaire.

This is the questionnaire that asks a few questions about should you complete the FAFSA or the MASFA. And I thought it was brilliant because it’s demystifying talking about the MASFA. It’s putting every student on kind of the same level. It gives every student the same starting point and a clear path to determine which financial aid application is right for them.

It also encourages students to reflect on their own circumstances and identify what they may need to [00:52:00] learn or confirm with parents, right? So if as well some students don’t know their status, but they’re being told like, “These are the questions that are going to determine whether you fill this or this out,” it’s now not you asking them their status, right?

It’s an individual activity, and they can always go home and fact find with their families to help them answer the questions. And you can say, “If you have any questions, please come see me. These are my office hours. Come make an appointment.” And then you can debrief the results of this, uh, s- this questionnaire with students.

I thought that was so, so brilliant because it’s giving every single student an entry point to be able to ask these questions, and the byproduct of also just liberating that climate at your school, making this something everyone talks about, FAFSA and MASFA at the same time. So I wanna just briefly, um, re- reiterate, you know, if you have students that are one of these statuses that are in [00:53:00] yellow, they should be filling out the FAFSA.

If you have a student that has TPS, asylum pending, conditional permanent resident, DACA, undocumented, you should be… Oh, I’ll come back to this. You should be steering them toward the MASFA. And let me go here, ’cause I had a question about this. So what’s really, really important to know is that students can only fill out one of those applications.

They should not be filling out both. So if there’s a student that you’re not s- that, you know, they… you think they should be filling out MASFA, you’ve maybe also already checked, have them do the MASFA first, right? If you think that they qualify and, and they think they qualify, have them do the MASFA first.

If for some reason, um, they, you do find out that, and, and they end up, you know, being able to file a FAFSA, it’s easier to do it that way, to do the MASFA first, and then if need be, the FAFSA. But I would never encourage students to do both. All right? And certainly not [00:54:00] the FAFSA first and then the MASFA.

OSFA, um, the, the platform that Massachusetts uses for the, for the MASFA is smart enough to know if there’s a FAFSA on record for the student. So if a student tries to go in and do the MASFA, and they’ve already erroneously done the FAFSA, it won’t let them do the MASFA. Um, and then you, we have to call OSFA.

They have to clear the, that Pe- Pell Grant FAFSA record from the student’s account. That can take weeks. And so always default to it’s one or the other, which is why that questionnaire t- um, strategy was so inspired. Well, slash if you’re on the fence, but you are, like, 99% sure it should be MASFA, have them do the MASFA.

Um, the MASFA is only online, and the ’27/28 MASFA is not yet available. So for those of you that are h- were hoping to do, like, FAFSA, MASFA festivals, completion events, unfortunately that is gonna be a little delayed this year. [00:55:00] Um, we have heard, I have heard little bits from the state about when it might come out, but don’t feel comfortable enough saying, um, something to you now live publicly.

Um, but I know, we know they’re working on it. We know that it is coming out, um, but don’t have a specific date unfortunately. But, um, if you go to OSFA’s website, which is linked here, um, they have a tremendous… well, pretty comprehensive. I, I use the word tremendous a lot, and I, I, you know, shouldn’t use it so freely.

Um, but they have a really, really good, um, resource page around MASFA, and that’s where they will right when it’s available. Right now, there’s a little, like, red statement that says, “It’s not yet available. It’s coming.” They’ll update that site first. So that’s the, um, mass.edu site, not the mass.gov site. The mass.gov site is, like, the general [00:56:00] state site, and they’re not really keeping the MASFA stuff updated.

Mass.edu is run by the folks that are actually owning the MASFA and HOSFA. Um, so check the mass.edu site. It’s linked here. The MAS is not yet available, um, but we’re hoping soon and definitely in the new year. What I do also want to mention is that you, as part of the self-disclosure and follow-up questions, we should be asking students a few follow-up questions, including, you know, if they’re newer to your high school, where did you go to high school before this?

Because part of the tuition equity law for students to access free community college and additional state assistance requires that undocumented students have at least three years of attending a Massachusetts high school. Doesn’t have to be the same high school for all three [00:57:00] years. Um, but they do require that three of those high school years be completed in Massachusetts.

So again, this is … It’s great for our students, and tuition equity is definitely something to celebrate. Um, but we do wanna be very careful of falsely promising all this before actually fact-finding do they qualify as a high school completer. So, um- Oh, sorry, one second. Oh, okay. So for example, the free community college program.

Undocumented students through Tuition Equity can also benefit from this program. They have to either complete the FAFSA or the MASFA, enroll in at least six credits at, in, in college, and maintain satisfactory academic progress. But those MASFA students have to be approved as a high school completer, right?

And one of the, um, pieces of being a high school [00:58:00] completer through the Tuition Equity law pathway is having at least three years of high school in Massachusetts and having earned or will earn a high school diploma by the time that they, um, matriculate in, uh, college or have the equivalent, so like a HiSET.

Um, so keep, keep your questions coming. Um, I think I answered most of them here. Um, one person’s asking, “Do you know when the MASFA application will be available? Uh, we do know about, um, current federal government lawsuit in Massachusetts for offering in-state to undocumented immigrants, make it harder for undocumented students to apply for MASFA support.”

Um, that’s a really great question. Thank you for asking that. So we do know that Massachusetts has been in the spotlight for being one of the states that has most recently opened up their state financial aid to undocumented immigrants. We are not alone. There are a lot of other states in, in the Un- [00:59:00] in the United States to do this, um, most notably California.

So while I do think that the federal spotlight on Massachusetts right now through those legal means is something to keep track of, I don’t believe that it’s something that we right now as educators need to be alarmed about, um, because we’re not the first state to do this in the United States. There’s legal precedent for both sides of the coin.

Um, and so for now, it’s business as usual un- until we hear otherwise from the state. That’s a great question. Thank you. All right, everyone. So I want to just briefly point out that when you get these, um, slides, you’re also gonna get s- um, sort of like an admissions guide, and I want to put in a plug for talking to your undocumented students or UndocuPlus students about these programs, dual enrollment, CLEP, AP, Early College, especially if your dual enrollment is free and doesn’t have any sort of, um, stipulations around, [01:00:00] uh, you know, a student’s FAFSA eligibility or whatever.

Your undocumented students can be earning co- college credits, right? It could save them some money, um, in the long run. CLEP exams, especially at the two-year college level, are amazing. Um, I’ve had some recent newcomer students take CLEP in Spanish, for example, and that might satisfy an elective requirement at a two-year college.

So get creative. This is why roll calling matters, too, ’cause you can kind of thought partner with folks in your department and say, “Okay, we h- we know we have around, you know, six or seven undocumented students. Let’s, let’s do a lesson on CLEP and have everyone hear it in our senior seminar, and those students that, you know, it might benefit will hopefully listen, and maybe we can follow up with students individually.”

So definitely try, try to, um, you know, plant the seeds for students, even if they, they all haven’t self-disclosed yet, um, because they’re listening. And [01:01:00] always tying it back to their career. For undocumented students who hold this heavy identity, it’s very easy to give up because they don’t have the work permit or they don’t have the financial support.

Um, but are there ways they can become self-employed in their chosen career? What makes them happy? I want to challenge all of you, at least once a year ask your undocumented student, “What makes you happy?” They don’t often don’t get that luxury of being asked that. They have to do what they have access to, right?

And that’s not always the case, and it shouldn’t be the case. What are your interests? What makes you happy? Allow them to dream, and then work backwards with them, right? So does your ideal career path need a work permit? Okay, well, in that case, let’s see. Let’s see if there’s adjacent careers. Maybe it’s not nurse, maybe it’s something health related but you might not need a, a CORI or SORI check.

But maybe it’s also parallel giving them some agency around when you turn [01:02:00] 18, you know, maybe go see if there is some legal relief for you. You know, there’s different ways that you can tie in everything we’re learning today to really get your students to not give up and to really, um, get excited about their future.

I have some tactical information here about, uh, colleges. Um, in Massachusetts, I would say students can still be honest about their immigration status with colleges. Less sure about other states, um, but colleges are still prohibited from releasing information unless under court order. I also get this question asked a lot about FAFSA, is it safe?

Um, and so I encourage you to check out the President’s Alliance, um, guide around data protections for FAFSA information. They are tracking what we call SORNs, the System of Records Notices. And right now, um, what we know is that there’s no agreement between the Department of Education and ICE. No agreement between Department of Ed [01:03:00] and other agencies to share any type of FAFSA information.

If agencies cross– want to have any cross-sharing of information, they have to put it on this registry of the System of Records Notices. They have to make it publicly available. So agencies like the President’s Alliance, which is a wonderful nonprofit, tracks these SORNs to see if ever there is an agreement between agencies.

As of today, there are none Those are sound bites you can absolutely share with students. Obviously, you’re not gonna have students check Sorense, and obviously it’s up to them ultimately what they do. Um, but I think you can use these sound bites to encourage students to say, “Hey, as of right now, there’s no agreement.

There hasn’t been. Even with all of the noise and everything happening at the federal level and how, how, um, hard it’s been for immigrants, even with all of that, there still hasn’t been any background agreements made between [01:04:00] agencies.” Doesn’t mean it won’t change in a month or two or five, but if it hasn’t happened so far, you know, it’s, it’s a calculated risk, right?

Do the benefits outweigh, um, the drawbacks? Leave it always up to your students, um But I’m, I’m hopeful that with these blurbs and, and sound bites that you’ll be able to, um, you know, counsel your s- your students in ways that empower them and don’t make them feel scared, which I’m sure you, you always do because you all are amazing.

Um, I also want to highlight here that I do have, um, some guides around how to counsel, uh, specifically around different GPA bands for students and utilizing the CSS Profile as a really safe way to self-disclose. Um, the special circumstances section is still a really good place to self-disclose for these private colleges that require the CSS Profile.

Um, so that’s usually for the higher GPA students applying to more selective institutions, which [01:05:00] obviously are the most Undocu+ friendly in the financial sense. Um, and then I want to always put in a plug for, you know, getting the most creative, I think, with your lower GPA students, taking advantage of the free community college program.

But if they have a work permit, might also be able to take advantage of, um, options like Duet, uh, Franklin Cummings that has some, um, lower priced, um, degrees, uh, Year Up. You know, there are different, uh, programs that might be great next steps for students, even if they don’t qualify for FAFSA, right?

Because they have a work permit and can do these things. And then finally, I want to share some scholarship resources for, uh, with all of you. Um, really love the Immigrants Rising Scholarship Resource Guide. It’s my favorite starting point. There is also the Dreamer’s Roadmap app, um, if your students are more inclined to use apps.

I am sure they are. Um, and then MALDEF’s [01:06:00] Scholarship Resource Guide is, uh, primarily geared toward Hispanic identifying students, but it’s still also a great inclusive list of national scholarships. Um, I know I’ve gone over time. Thank you everyone for sticking with me. Um, as always, connect with us, um, here at MEFA.

If you follow us on LinkedIn or Instagram, we’re always posting upcoming webinars. Um, and then you can always get in touch with me either by phone or if you email [email protected], or you can email me directly as well, um, [email protected]. Um, I’m going to leave this up, and I’m just gonna briefly check the Q&A, um, to see what questions have, have come up.

Um, this is a lot of information, and you will receive these slides after the presentation. Yes, you’ll receive the recording and the slides as well, and I hope you download the slides, um, because you can kind of refer back to them [01:07:00] and use, use these slides as a guide for the next year. Someone’s asking, what is considered a full year?

Um, and I’m, I’m assuming you’re asking about the full year, um, for the purposes of the tuition equity high school completer pathway. What if they come in February of their 10th grade? Absolutely. So I think the three years is obviously a very, uh, important requirement, and I have heard of colleges, um, you know, through the verification process of the MASFA, taking a look at the transcript, and if they’re seeing three academic years there, that’s good enough.

Um, so really it’s thinking about the three academic years and not necessarily the full three hundred and sixty-five days times three calendar year. So I hope that that helps. Um, someone’s asking, “If you receive your HiSet, do you [01:08:00] still need the three years here before you qualify for free community college?”

Unfortunately, yes. It’s a package deal. Um, so part of the high school completer pathway is requiring every student, uh, to have those three academic years in a Massachusetts high school and also have a HiSet or diploma before they matriculate into a community college. Um, this is of, of course, I think something that many educators are feeling a rub, right?

Why the full three years or why three academic years? Why not two? Why not one? And, you know, I want to leave us with this is a great point of advocacy for us, right? For MASCA, for all of us to say, “Hey, could this be reduced to two years?” Right? I mean, the Tuition Equity Act was passed after years and years of local advocacy.

So what’s to say that more local advocacy, right, can’t [01:09:00] potentially shift this a little bit? Um, but yeah, for now it’s, it’s pretty, pretty much set in stone, three academic years and the, the high school diploma or equivalent. Yeah. Wonderful. Thank you all so much, uh, for joining. Um, this has been a great, um, great session, great questions, and please don’t hesitate to reach out, um, if you need anything going forward.

Thank you all so much for being here. Take care.