Drop in Dream Act applications, enrollments across California colleges

Community colleges across the state are seeing a dramatic drop in California Dream Act Applications, the program that allows undocumented students to apply for financial aid help. Many attribute it to a feeling of uncertainty with how President Donald Trump will deal with immigration.

California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley said Friday that at this point last year, there were some 34,000 applications for the Dream Act. As of last week, there were only 20,000.

“The drop is pretty significant,” said Leticia Maldonado, director of student equity at Cabrillo College. “The way that’s translating to Cabrillo, is that we’re seeing a drop in enrollment.”

Maldonado said the Aptos campus has seen an eight-percent enrollment drop, while the Watsonville Center has seen an 18-percent drop, many of which happened around the time President Trump was sworn into office.

However, school officials said they’re seeing a 32-percent increase in the number of online class enrollments yet they do not know what could be behind the uptick.

“I’ve had both students and parents come to my office and ask if it’s safe to apply to the California Dream Act or to the AB 540 form which allows students to pay instate tuition,” said Adela Naranjo, Dream support coordinator at Cabrillo College. “They are definitely in fear of their information being shared.”

Student Marisol Maldonado has heard of students dropping out of other schools like Gavilan College.

“This is the first that I hear it’s happening here but I know that in his campus where he goes to school, he’s seen a lot of kids drop out because of the same reason,” Marisol Maldonado said.

School leaders want to reassure students they are there for them.

“We want to support you,” Leticia Maldonado said. “We understand the root cause of the fear. I think anyone understands that, given the national climate that we’re living in. But we’re here to really reassure the students that we support them, that we want them to apply for financial aid, and that we want them to pursue their education.”

Cabrillo College is offering two free DACA renewal clinics in March.

The first is Thursday, March 9 at the Watsonville Center’s Solari Green Technology Building, Room C-105. It begins at 6 p.m. The second is Wednesday, March 15 at the Aptos Campus in Room TLC 1096. That begins at 1 p.m.