The number of applicants for both the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the California Dream Act Application (CADAA) in the 2024/2025 school year decreased by 26% from the 2023/2034 school year. On top of a growing fear surrounding immigration eligibility amongst students when applying for financial aid, the number of applicants has decreased based on a lack of understanding from both students and families in the Westview community.

Westview counselors, including Adriana Chittuluru, have been working to help students realize the value in applying to financial aid services.

“The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is for all U. S. Citizens or eligible noncitizens in the United States,” Chittuluru said. “And that allows universities to create a financial aid package for students. So a lot of times people assume that the FAFSA is actually going to give them money, but

 the FAFSA creates your FAFSA submission summary — a document that summarizes the information you reported on your FAFSA form, and then colleges — whether it’s a four-year or community college — use that to determine their financial aid package and helps the universities figure out how much they would give you in grant[s], scholarships, loans, and other things of that nature.”

Alongside the FAFSA applications open to current seniors, a second opportunity for financial aid exists called the California Dream Act Application, which is California’s state financial aid application that allows undocumented and other eligible students to qualify for state and institutional financial aid, opens doors for students concerned about their eligibility for financial aid because of their immigration status.

“I want to make sure that this conversation is inclusive for all of our students, because we have two different financial aid applications,” Chittuluru said. “The FAFSA is for students with a Social Security number — US citizens and different immigration statuses — but the CADAA is for those who don’t have that. So it still gives [students] the ability — specifically California high school students — to apply for financial aid.”

Threatened by the current administration, students who are immigrants have become more hesitant to apply for financial aid out of fear.

“Due to the immigration status of families and the current administration, some are very concerned about applying for financial aid because they don’t want their status to be flagged in a government system,” Chittuluru said. “The CADAA is specifically for California, it is not a [federal] government program. Students who have fears — they could be US citizens themselves, but maybe their family members are not — are allowed to apply using the CADAA instead, but that also does limit them to just California universities.”

In California, CADAA protects student immigration status, but there’s no guarantees with the FAFSA. Chittuluru doesn’t know whether or not the possible implications of applying for financial aid through FAFSA will negatively impact students.

“I think it’s a valid fear because unfortunately we just don’t know,” Chittuluru said. “[Immigration status] could actually be used against students or may not be, but we hope that it won’t.”

Looking at the data from the beginning of the 2023/2024 school year and March of the current school year, Chittuluru said that there has been a decrease in the number of applicants to the CADAA and FAFSA at Westview. In addition to this, only 1.5 million students have currently applied to the FAFSA nationwide, compared to a total of 3.1 million applicants in the class of 2024. Despite the decline in applicants, Chittuluru said she is hopeful that more students will be motivated to apply to the FAFSA or CADAA, as the California priority deadline has been extended from March 3 to April 2.

“Last year, class of 2024, 71% of our seniors submitted their FAFSA or CADAA, which was a pretty good number,” Chittuluru said. “I wish it was a lot more, but it’s actually a pretty good number, especially when it comes to how many students actually go to a four-year or community college. Currently for the class of 2025, 53 percent of our current seniors have completed their FAFSA or CADAA: so much less.”

A common theme expressed to Chittuluru is the general belief among students and families that they don’t need or wouldn’t qualify for financial aid because of how much their family makes and therefore shouldn’t apply.

“People assume that most people are well off in this area, but there’s a lot who need a lot of help and support,” Chittuluru said. “We want to make sure that we get to everybody.”

She added that educating students and families about financial aid is vital to improving the general number of applicants.

“We’re trying to increase our outreach to our underclassmen, because even though they don’t need to do the application right now, I want [them] to understand what it is and [why] it’s so important,” Chittuluru said. “So that’s what we’re trying to do is really start the conversation early so by their senior year, it’s easier.”

She expressed that many students don’t understand the fact that the FAFSA and CADAA are vital to their college applications.

“A lot of universities require the FAFSA or CADAA [for students] to be eligible for institutional grants and scholarships regardless of need,” Chittuluru said. “In regard to community college, the FAFSA or CADAA is required for students to attend for free for the first two years.”

Chittuluru said that through new programs, annual presentations, and open communication about the implications that come with not applying, the counseling department wants to increase understanding of the financial aid resources available to students.

“[Financial aid] makes a big difference because often all of us naturally assume that maybe we can’t afford a certain college because of the price tag,” Chittuluru said. “And sometimes, that will absolutely be true, but what students don’t understand is that four-year private universities typically have more funds to be able to provide more financial aid to students.”

As Chittuluru looks towards the future, she said she is hopeful that this year’s applicant numbers can increase so the yearly number of applicants at Westview continues to grow. From the class of 2023 to the class of 2024, the number of seniors who submitted their FAFSA or CADAA increased, but the class of 2025 has significantly less applicants at the moment. There is still time to increase these numbers

“We have worked really hard to get [numbers] up every year,” Chittuluru said. “Our goal is to keep increasing our numbers. the more we talk about it we hope more people will understand the importance of applying to financial aid.”

Chittuluru says our counseling department tries to help students realize the benefits of applying for financial aid through programs such as FAFSA and CADAA.

“If they don’t apply, we’re not here to force anybody,” Chittuluru said. “But, we have to make sure that they have officially opted out of applying for financial aid. And we will obviously respect that decision, but our counseling department will continue to help educate our families on the importance of applying for financial aid.”