The Scheme Game: How DACA Recipients Navigate Barriers to Higher Education

Abstract

College-bound recipients of DACA—a 2012 US administrative policy officially titled Consideration for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals—face a series of administrative and financial barriers in pursuing postsecondary education. These barriers often include a complicated process for in-state tuition consideration, as well as exclusion from the majority of educational subsidies. This research sheds new light on DACA students’ own understanding of their financial exclusions and the often ingenious methods they use to finance higher education. The research employs critical race theory/LatCrit frameworks to examine the structural systems of exclusion within educational policies and the corresponding measures taken by DACA recipient students in Ohio to overcome them. Participants’ testimonios highlight their own resilience in the face of multiple obstacles, dispel notions of meritocracy in higher education, and educate institutional agents about funding inequities in an effort to rectify them. This work finds, in response to the barriers they face, many DACA recipients in Ohio find a variety of unconventional ways to navigate a complex admissions process and secure a means of paying entirely out of pocket for their tuition. Participants in this longitudinal, qualitative research refer to these navigational strategies as participating in “the scheme game.” The scheme game consists of 3 overlapping practices: “grindin’,” “hustlin’,” and “schemin’.” Rooted in hip-hop, these terms originally refer to the ways Black, Brown, and immigrant communities navigate the barriers of a formal economy and participate in an informal economy to financially sustain themselves. Additionally, the research introduces the scheme game as a new epistemological perspective from which to understand the measures some DACA students take to afford a higher education.

Acknowledgments

I thank the participants in this study for their willingness to share their experiences and knowledge with me. I take great honor in your trust. Le dedico esta obra académica a mi madre, María Guadalupe. Gracias por siempre brindarme su apoyo incondicional. La extraño, pero sepa que su amor y sabiduría me guían diariamente.

Notes

1 The Federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) prohibited undocumented immigrants from accessing federal financial aid (H.R. 3734–104th Congress, PRWORA, 1996)

2 The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA) precludes undocumented students from qualifying for in-state tuition (P.L.104-208–104th Congress: IIRAIRA, 1996).

3 The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM)

4 The NURP survey includes data from 2,684 undocumented young adults nationwide who have received deferred action, may be eligible for DACA, or who applied but are awaiting response.

5 Legislation that allows eligible undocumented students access to some state financial aid at public institutions.

6 Referring to those who have been racialized as non-White.

7 Unique forms of cultural capital, accumulated resources, and assets that marginalized Students of Color develop within educational institutions (Saito, 1997; Villalpando & Solórzano, 2005)

8 Aspirational and familial, linguistic, social, navigational, and spiritual capital

9 Emcee, MC, M.C are rappers whose lyricism and performance reached distinction.

10 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)

11 This particular scholarship included full tuition, room and board, and a monthly stipend

12 Although a notary public in the United States is only authorized to witness the signature of forms, a notario in many Latin American countries has a law license. Clara is alluding to the issue of notary publics who, in Spanish-speaking immigrant neighborhoods, call themselves notarios. In doing so, they often misrepresent their legal qualifications to charge for various services.

13 Forty-two percent took out student loans and 5% had parents who took out federal Direct PLUS Loans.

14 As of May 2018, several legal challenges have been filed, including a federal injunction that orders the Trump administration to maintain DACA on a nationwide basis and a lawsuit by 16 Attorneys General. As of this work’s submission, the legal decisions are still unknown.