With a new fix, students in Texas whose parents are not citizens can still fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) before the March deadline.
Before, parents who didn’t have a Social Security number couldn’t add their income to their help applications. On the other hand, the US Department of Education made it possible for kids whose parents don’t have a Social Security number to send in forms without a parent’s signature.
What the Texas Tribune said was that students would get an email confirming their application, which they could use as proof that the application was complete. The glitch will be fixed by the middle of March, according to the Department of Education. This will give kids two weeks to fill out the FAFSA without a parent’s signature.
A study by the think tank Every Texan found that one in four children has at least one parent who is not a citizen of the United States. For Texas college students, FAFSA is the best way to get financial help for college. This would have a big effect on immigrant families.
With the Department of Education putting in place a short-term solution, it’s clear that they know how this will affect immigrant families. Still, some people are against it or think it’s hard to understand or carry out. Each student in Texas is being looked at by a college educator to see if they should send in their FAFSA right away or wait until the problem is fixed.
