After the brutal murder of Mateo Benson’s father at the hands of who he believes was the Mexican cartel, the Florida Atlantic University senior and his mother decided to flee Mexico for a safer life in the United States. 

Benson, along with other undocumented students, now face stricter immigration policies that are forcing them to manage the financial strain of paying out-of-state tuition at their own personal expense or completely transfer to a new university.

Undocumented students are people living in the U.S. without legal permission, often because they entered the country without authorization or overstayed a visa. Benson, among others, is a recipient of TheDream.US scholarship, the nation’s largest program supporting undocumented students who lack access to federal financial aid.

In April 2025, President Donald Trump’s administration revoked the student visas of six FAU students. An FAU spokesperson confirmed that Trump’s administration reversed all of the student visa revocations nearly a week later. Florida Atlantic University has faced escalating immigration issues, from the revocation of student visas to the campus police department’s July 24 agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the 287(g) program.

According to Emily Smith, a Dreamer recipient and junior civil engineering student, the program’s President and CEO, Maria Gabriela “Gaby” Pacheco, informed students through an urgent Zoom meeting and email that the program would be getting rid of its agreement with FAU at the end of spring 2025.  

“(Pacheco) did tell us that we can stay at FAU, but the scholarship would not fund our tuition unless we were enrolled in a partnered college where the scholarship was approved,” Smith said. TheDream.US scholarship program and Pacheco did not respond to further requests for comment on the decision. 

This decision left Dreamer students to fend for themselves as they were forced to uproot their lives, inciting severe financial hardship. Before transferring to FAU, Benson started school at Palm Beach State College, where he paid entirely out of pocket while juggling multiple construction jobs and night school.

Benson’s mother applied and successfully secured their tourist visas. But at 12 years old, Benson’s visa expired, and his mother couldn’t afford the legal fees to renew it, leaving them undocumented. He and his mother eventually applied for asylum visas as another way for their family to remain in the U.S. They are currently awaiting his and his family’s asylum applications. 

“It was either get rejected for another visa or try to get the money and hope for the best,” Benson said. He and his family arrived in the U.S. after 2007 on a tourist visa. Still, he didn’t meet the eligibility requirements for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). 

According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, asylum visas are visas that non-citizens apply for when they’re seeking protection due to suffering persecution or fear that they will due to their race, religion, nationality, or political opinion. This application can only be filed if the undocumented person is physically present in the United States and isn’t a U.S. citizen.

Andrea Huerta-Rodriguez, a senior associate at Fragomen Immigration Firm in Miami, explained that asylum requires more than fleeing difficult conditions in one’s home country. She said applicants must demonstrate specific harm directed at them or their family.

Huerta-Rodriguez explained the intrinsically complicated nature of asylum applications because of the logistics involved in leaving one place to find another: “One of the hardest parts is proving your claim. You’ve already fled, and now you have to convince an officer not only that you’re afraid, but that it actually happened, and that’s often very difficult to document.”

Although TheDream.US organization hasn’t released an official statement regarding the move of its scholarship recipients to different universities, Benson speculated that the move was due to safety concerns.

“(Dreamers) ended the partnership with FAU. It’s affecting every state university. So even if I wanted to go to FIU, it’s going to be the same thing,” Benson said. “That’s why I decided that I’m going to take classes at ASU, and then I’m going to transfer those credits back to be a graduate over at FAU.”

Because of the termination of the agreement, many Dreamers had to transfer or finish their college degree out of pocket without the scholarship support. If they decide to pay out of pocket, Dreamers will have to pay out-of-state tuition instead of in-state tuition, due to the reversal of House Bill 851, which allowed undocumented students to pay in-state tuition by using out-of-state tuition waivers. 

However, in February, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 2-C, eliminating in-state tuition for undocumented students. Although this situation has caused many of these students mental strife, Benson puts finances at the top of his worries, especially for the fall semester. 

“A lot of other students on the Dreamers Scholarship are discouraged; they’re leaving FAU after years here. I feel it too, but I’ve built the resilience to keep going.” Benson said.

Benson has built resilience because instead of school, he worries more about the safety of his mother during this time. “I mostly fear about my mother, I don’t want to get home and not see her there. She doesn’t speak English. I can speak English and Spanish pretty well. I have an advantage when I get pulled over; my mom doesn’t,” he said.

Benson is among the few Dreamers between FAU and Arizona State University who have completed their bachelor’s degrees. “After the spring, our scholarship stopped covering tuition, so I had to pick up multiple jobs. I’m working my main job and side work as an electrician just to afford my summer classes, all while planning classes for the fall semester,” Benson said. 

Unlike Benson, Smith had a harder time getting accepted by Arizona State University. Smith has also had to consider dropping out due to being unable to afford tuition. Emily Smith fled an abusive household along with her mother and sister. Smith immigrated from Guanajuato City, Mexico, with the help of her uncle, who brought them to America in October 2005.

During the summer, Smith couldn’t get into ASU due to her junior classification. Pacheco and TheDream.US found new universities to partner with in order for their recipients to continue attending school. “It’s a lot of denial. Like, it’s not going to happen. It’s not real, there’s no acceptance yet for me,” said Smith. “We had to leave FAU and transfer to different schools. Most of my friends are settled in new universities, but as an engineering major, it’s been harder for me.”

An advisor from the program gave Smith three choices: pause her scholarship to prevent losing it, wait for FAU and TheDream.US to come to a solution, or possibly pay out of pocket. In June when the program officially sent their students the new partnering universities they could attend, ASU was one on the list. 

“That’s when the requirement to go to ASU was that I needed to be a senior,” said Smith. “I was able to contact an advisor and I told her my situation that I don’t have any other school I can go to that were on the list and she worked it out for the other students that were in the same position as me.”

In July, Smith applied to ASU and is now able to continue her education as an architectural studies major. Her biggest concern is the safety of her undocumented mother and sister.

“I worry a lot for my sister and my mom, especially for my mom. My mom works right now; she’s the main provider. I call her, we all share our location with each other,” Smith said. “My sister lives in West Palm near Trump’s golf course; there are a lot of cops over there. I fear for her. I tell her every day when we’re on the phone I love you. Be safe. Don’t go anywhere where you’re not supposed to go, just stay home,” Smith said.