Undocumented, DREAMer, DACA Students & Mixed-Status Families

What Are Undocumented/DREAMer Students?

An undocumented student refers to students born outside of the United States, but who have lived in the country for a significant portion of their lives, and reside in the United States without the legal permission of the federal government.
Are often ineligible for careers that required licensing, background checks, or a Social Security Number.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)

DACA, an executive memo issued on June 15, 2012 offers undocumented persons under the age of 31, meeting specific criteria, deferred action of deportation.
DACA does not provide an individual with lawful status.
Through the Department of Homeland Security, DACA recipients are granted the right to an Illinois driver’s license, a Social Security Number and a work permit.
DACA students are eligible for paid internships and student employment
Consideration of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
Renew Your DACA

We are proud to be a Partner College of TheDream.US.

Incoming DREAMers are able to become “FIGHTING SAINTS” and attend USF using the scholarship funds provided by TheDream.US. If selected, the student’s USF tuition will be fully covered. Application Deadline: February 28, 2023, 11:59 P.M. PT

Step 1: Determining Your Eligibility

You are eligible to apply if you:

Are undocumented and came to the United States before November 1, 2017, and have continuously lived in the United States since then or have DACA or TPS;
Came to the United States before the age of 16 (if you were born in the U.S., you are not eligible for our scholarship);
Have significant unmet financial need;
Have graduated or will graduate from a United States high school (or have earned/will earn a high school equivalency diploma) before starting.
Graduated or will graduate with a high school GPA of 2.5 or better on a 4.0 scale or have a cumulative college GPA of 2.5 or better;
Intend to enroll full-time in an associate or bachelor’s degree program at a Partner College in your state; and
Are eligible for in-state tuition* at the Partner College such as the University of St. Francis-Joliet IL

Step 2: Completing the Application

We highly encourage you to apply for the National Scholarship.

Apply here: National Scholarship
Application Deadline: February 28, 2023, 11:59 p.m. (PT)
If prompted, the Program Key is “Dream.”

Visit TheDream.US for more information

Next Steps

For Undocumented, DREAMer, DACA Students (see below for Mixed-Status Families)

Apply for Admission (NO application fee is required)

1) Undocumented/DREAMer students, fill out our online application. Please put 000-00-000 in the social security field – do not make up a number or use your ITIN number. University of St. Francis will give you an assigned ID number once you submit the application. Please put “NO” for U.S. Citizen. Please put “NO” for Applying to Financial Aid.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students, fill out our online application. Please put 000-00-000 in the social security field – do not put your SSN given to you by DACA or use your ITIN number. University of St. Francis will give you an assigned ID number once you submit the application. Please put “NO” for U.S. Citizen. Please put “NO” for Applying to Financial Aid.

2) Turn in high school transcripts and/or ALL college transcripts. We are test-optional so you only need to turn in your SAT or ACT scores if you would like to use them for admissions. You will select either Test-Optional or Non-Test-Optional on the application.

3) Apply for Financial Aid – Undocumented, DREAMer, and DACA students are not eligible to apply for Federal Financial Aid, therefore are not eligible to apply for the FAFSA. The state of Illinois and the University of St. Francis have specific processes to help get more financial aid to help students.

a) Illinois Residents are eligible to apply for the RISE act Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid. This will give the student an opportunity to received the MAP grant as well as Institutional Need-Based Grant named USF Grant. Once institution receives information an offer letter should be processed.

b) Out-of-State Residents are eligible to apply for our Institutional Need-Based Grant named USF Grant. To fill this out, the student will need to make an appointment with their Admission Counselor or the Undocumented Liaison. Please make an appointment below. Once institution receives information an offer letter should be processed.

4) We highly encourage you to make an appointment with either your admission counselor or with our Undocumented Student Liaison.

Please Submit ALL DOCUMENTS to the USF Admissions Office.

Financing Your Education

All USF freshman and transfer scholarships are open to undocumented/DACA students.

Undocumented and DACA students may be eligible to receive privately funded merit scholarships or grant aid. They are not eligible to receive FEDERAL financial aid, but might be eligible for in-state financial aid if the student lives in the state of Illinois. Students should begin looking for scholarships as early as possible. Contact our Admissions team or set up an appointment if you have any questions.

The Sisters of Mary Immaculate at University of St. Francis has dedicated funds in the form of a scholarship specifically for undocumented/DACA students called the Access Grant. Your admission counselor will provide you with the details of the application, deadline and requirements. The application is generally open in March and students are awarded in June.

We are now a proud Partner College of TheDream.US. Through TheDream.US funds, an Undocumented/DACA student can apply to have their USF tuition fully covered. For more information, scroll back up above “Next Steps.”

Our Admissions and Financial Aid Office does not recommend that an Undocumented/DACA student fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). If the student lives in the state of Illinois, then we recommend they consider eligibility for the Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid for consideration of IL MAP Grant and USF Grant. If the student does not live in Illinois, then we have a separate internal form to fill out and find financial need for consideration of USF Grant.

Resources/Scholarship Opportunities

Articles/Sites Related to Undocumented Students

Mixed-Status Families

A “mixed-status family” is a family whose members include people with different citizenship or immigration statuses. One example of a mixed-status family is one in which the parents are undocumented and the children are U.S.-born citizens.
If the student is a US Citizen or Eligible Non-Citizens and one or both parents are undocumented, the student is still eligible to file for government financial aid.

Next Steps

For Mixed-Status Families (see above if the student is Undocumented or has DACA)

Apply for Admission (NO application fee is required)

1) Citizen or Eligible Non-Citizens, fill out our online application. Please put your social security number in the social security field Please put “YES” for U.S. Citizen. Please put “YES” for Applying to Financial Aid.

3) Apply for Financial Aid – Citizen and Eligible Non- Citizens are able to create an FSA ID and are eligible to apply for Federal Financial Aid through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

a) Undocumented Parents, please put 000-00-000 in the social security field – do not make up a number or use your ITIN number. The FAFSA will share that there may be an ERROR on the page, click “Check for Errors” twice and the FAFSA should continue on to the next page. At the end of the FAFSA, the student electronically signs the FAFSA, since the parent is NOT eligible to create an FSA ID, a signature page will need to be printed for the Parent to sign and will require the signature page to be mailed physically. Once institution receives information an offer letter should be processed.
NOTE: Parents are NOT eligible for Parent PLUS Loan and should not take any Parent PLUS Loan offer.

b) DACA Parents, please put social security number in the social security field. Parents are eligible to create an FSA ID. At the end of the FASFA, the student electronically signs the FAFSA and then the parent electronically signs the FAFSA. Once institution receives information an offer letter should be processed.

NOTE: Parents are NOT eligible for Parent PLUS Loan and should not take any Parent PLUS Loan offer.

4) We highly encourage you to make an appointment with either your admission counselor or with our Undocumented Student Liaison.

Please Submit ALL DOCUMENTS to the USF Admissions Office.