When Access Isn’t Equity: The Hidden Barriers in Higher Education for Undocumented, Low-Income Students
- FULR Management
- Jul 29
- 6 min read
By David Felipe '26
Guest Writer, Brown University
Traditionally, higher education is seen as a ladder to social and economic mobility. For undocumented and low-income students, that ladder is missing some critical rungs. Today’s higher education climate has become more exclusionary and discriminatory. Current college pipeline programs fall short by focusing on admissions rather than long-term academic success. With further policy and legal reforms, more sustainable and equitable pathways in higher education can be built.
The most clear and tangible form of support for low-income students is financial aid and scholarships for higher education. This happens through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which supplies about $120.8 billion in grant, work-study, and loan funds. (1) Undocumented, low-income students are not eligible for aid through FAFSA, however, as stated by Title IV of the Higher Education Act. Passed in 1965, this act requires that financial aid recipients be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. (2) Further, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Responsibility Act, along with the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, specifically prohibit undocumented people from receiving postsecondary education benefits. Thus, these students must rely on other forms of merit. Some states have adopted “tuition equity” laws, which allow undocumented students to pay in-state tuition rates, but these policies vary drastically by state. (3) Thus, many undocumented students must battle a legal limbo by applying to undocumented-specific scholarship programs like the Golden Door Scholars foundation, (4) or ones that do not have a U.S. citizenship requirement, like QuestBridge. (5)
It is through these organizations that many undocu+ (an umbrella term for undocumented people, those on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), those under Temporary Protection Status (TPS), and students with a “mixed-status family,” where family members have different immigration statuses) students have received full rides at state colleges, public institutions, and even Ivy League-caliber schools. Even so, these scholarship programs are highly competitive and selective, entailing lengthy and complex application processes that make such programs inaccessible to most. The absence of federal protections, especially in today’s political climate, with a new administration causing uncertainty around Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), functionally deprives undocumented students of a fair chance of succeeding in higher education contexts. President Trump’s mission to terminate both DACA and TPS protection programs has created a wave of fear and unpredictability. (6) DACA has strict eligibility requirements for young applicants, such as having arrived in the United States before age 16 and demonstrating some educational trajectory in the United States. (7) In this way, young DACA participants are motivated to complete high school and matriculate into higher education. (8) Under DACA, they can obtain work permits, gain access to more external scholarship opportunities, and overall move through their time in college at an easier rate than their undocumented counterparts with no protections.
Apart from the legal and financial barriers to college access, undocumented and low-income students face the challenge of battling the hidden curriculum while trying to excel academically as well as professionally. The hidden curriculum, defined by the Glossary of Education Reform, refers to “the unwritten, unofficial, and often unintended lessons, values, and perspectives that students learn in school. While the ‘formal’ curriculum consists of the courses, lessons, and learning activities students participate in, as well as the knowledge and skills educators intentionally teach to students, the hidden curriculum consists of the unspoken or implicit academic, social, and cultural messages that are communicated to students while they are in school.” (9) For example, students may not know how to utilize a campus’s resources upon arrival, how to form professor-student relationships, attend office hours, or network their way into internships and jobs. There is no federal support for these students, apart from financial aid, which helps with collegiate success and completion. For this reason, once low-income and undocumented students get to college, a large majority of them face a culture shock far deeper than the average student.
Undocumented students and students coming from a mixed-status family also face the harrowing fear that they or their families may be deported from the U.S. during their time in college. This fear influences the relationship between undocumented families and their children’s institutions. For example, undocumented families may feel fearful of providing personal information like their Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) or income. Lack of necessary information can create even further barriers for undocumented students seeking to earn admission into higher education. The truth is, legal systems have set up an atmosphere to make undocumented students feel as if higher education is out of reach. There is no clear path to college, unlike for traditional students. For this reason, college access programs have been created to ensure more representation and demystify the college application process.
Even so, college pipeline programs often celebrate admissions as the end goal, but for undocumented and low-income students, the fight for educational equity does not stop after the acceptance letter. Getting in is only half the struggle; additional support is required to build a mentorship network, navigate a collegiate experience with dignity and safety, and succeed academically.
An undocumented peer of mine once talked to me about how hard it was for them, despite being a student at Brown, to be able to apply for Brown-specific fellowships or even work an on-campus job due to their legal status. Fellowships and on-campus jobs, two basic components of a college experience, remain largely inaccessible for undocumented students. This is an area that college access programs should tackle, helping undocumented students avoid going through this journey on their own.
At the institutional level, universities should implement sanctuary campus policies that protect students from the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and data sharing. Other ideas that can help are on-campus legal clinics, training staff in immigration law, and building clearer, safer pathways for students to navigate bureaucracies without fear. Most importantly, students themselves—especially those from undocumented and low-income communities—must have a seat at the table when these policies are created. Undocumented students, through lived experience, are qualified to help colleges and universities make more inclusive policies. In this way, their lived experience can function as legal expertise. Student-led organizing has already proved successful in pushing universities to adopt more just and inclusive practices. The University of California at Riverside has started this legal counseling by providing a free DACA renewal program for both undocumented students and their immediate family members. The law should be used as a tool for liberation, not exclusion. (10)
Legal reform, therefore, would look like legislation that matches the realities of undocumented and low-income students. At the state level, introducing legislation that expands existing access to in-state tuition and state financial aid is an important step that must be taken. At the federal level, permanent protections for undocumented students must be established. This could include the expansion and protection of DACA, ensuring that undocumented students are eligible for Pell Grants and other federal aid.
If higher education is truly meant to be a public good, then it must serve those who have been historically excluded from it. That means shifting our definition of access beyond admissions and reimagining systems that nurture not just enrollment, but empowerment. From legal advocacy to institutional redesign, change is possible—and already in motion—largely because undocumented and low-income students have been organizing for it. Our task now is to listen, learn, and legislate in alignment with their vision. Equity cannot wait. Justice in education means ensuring that every student, regardless of immigration status or income, has not just the right to be in the room, but the resources to thrive once they’re there.
Endnotes
Federal Student Aid - About Us. Accessed May 9, 2025. https://studentaid.gov/about.
Enyioha, Jessica C. "College Access for Undocumented Students and Law," Educational Considerations: Vol. 45: No. 1 (2019).
Broder, Tanya. “Basic Facts about In-State Tuition.” NILC, September 10, 2024. https://www.nilc.org/resources/basic-facts-instate/.
“Scholarship for Undocumented Students - Golden Door Scholars.” Scholarship for Undocumented Students - Golden Door Scholars. Accessed April 9, 2025. https://www.goldendoorscholars.org/.
“Questbridge.” QuestBridge. Accessed May 9, 2025. https://www.questbridge.org/.
“HRDEF: The Potential Impacts of President Trump’s Administration on DACA and Temporary Protected Status.” Akerman LLP, January 21, 2025. https://www.akerman.com/en/perspectives/hrdef-the-potential-impacts-of-president-trumps-administration-on-daca-and-temporary-protected-status.html.
“Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).” USCIS, January 24, 2025. https://www.uscis.gov/DACA.
Stone, Chad. “Ending DACA Program for Young Undocumented ...” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, September 27, 2017. https://www.cbpp.org/research/economy/ending-daca-program-for-young-undocumented-immigrants-makes-no-economic-sense.
“Hidden Curriculum Definition.” The Glossary of Education Reform, July 13, 2015. https://www.edglossary.org/hidden-curriculum/.
“DACA.” Undocumented Student Programs, February 20, 2025. https://usp.ucr.edu/DACA.
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