Alejandra Gonzalez

she/her

Education: Bachelor of Science in finance (May 2022)

McNair Project: The Potential Effect in the Financial Wellbeing of Federal Aid Being Accessible to Undocumented Studentsin the Long Run (2021)

Mentor: HanNa Lim, Ph.D.

Undocumented and DACA eligible are not allowed to access the same financial aid funds that other students are eligible to apply for. However, certain states have made efforts to make financial aid accessible to fund higher education. Looking at the effects, specifically how it will affect the wellbeing of students can provide evidence for policy makers in other states to make similar effort to support undocumented and DACA eligible students. This study serves to present the experiences of undocumented students and the California Dream Act. Using content analysis, we analyzed 200 articles in GoogleNews using the search terms “California DREAM Act” and “undocumented students” to find articles that spoke about topics related to the subject. We had three significant finds. The first being that states that offer financial aid to undocumented students also have other resources to offer them including additional support programs, scholarships and even access centers. Secondly, we use direct quotes from the articles as evidence to support that these students need some type of financial aid. And lastly, including the perspective of the students that benefit from the California DREAM Act is an essential to understand the effects of providing them this financial aid.