Friday Deadline to Apply for DACA Renewal Scholarships

September 27, 2017

A scholarship fund set up to help young immigrants pay for their $495 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrives (DACA) renewal applications has now tripled in size, to $3 million. The deadline to apply for these funds is this Friday, September 29. The deadline to renew DACA status for those whose status expires on March 5, 2018 is October 5.

Earlier this month, the San Francisco-based non-profit Mission Asset Fund (MAF) made scholarship funds available to cover the costs for California community college students who need to renew their DACA status before the upcoming October 5 deadline. Thanks to an influx of private donations, MAF is now in a position to help several thousand more “Dreamers” afford to renew their status. To date, MAF has provided 4,000 scholarships, and can award another 2,000 by this Friday’s deadline. This is the largest DACA renewal fund in the country, helping some 900 Dreamers who are California community college students.

On September 5, the Trump administration announced that the DACA Program was ending. The program has provided security, safety, and a livelihood for 800,000 young people known as "Dreamers." Of the 154,000 Dreamers who are eligible to renew their DACA permits before the program ends on March 5, 2018, most are able to cover the application costs themselves. But for Dreamers who are eligible for renewal but cannot afford the $495 application fee, MAF has stepped in with a solution. DACA students who are interested in applying for this scholarship should visit http://lc4daca.org to learn more and to complete the online application. Scholarship applicants will need to complete a short questionnaire and provide their documentation of DACA status with an expiration date on or before March 5, 2018 to qualify for the financial aid.

LTCC students are encouraged to apply as soon as possible so they do not miss out on the opportunity to obtain a scholarship for the $495 renewal fee. Scholarship applications will be processed the same day they are submitted, and once a student has qualified, checks made out to the Department of Homeland Security will be mailed out overnight.

The Trump Administration’s DACA decision does not impact a student’s ability to attend LTCC or any other California community college, to qualify for an exemption from non-resident tuition fees under AB 540, or to apply for financial aid under the provisions of the California Dream Act. AB 540 and the California Dream Act are state programs that are entirely separate and distinct from DACA. To learn more about the financial aid opportunities available through the California Dream Act, please visit www.ltcc.edu/dreamact.