While DREAMer’s Roadmap obviously helps high school seniors plan their college career, Salamanca says that colleges and universities can benefit directly from those choices in many ways:
- With greater ease and access to sources of money, DACA students will have more choices about where to attend, making them a sought-after demographic at higher ed institutions.
- With DACA students enrolling in higher numbers, colleges will get more diversity in their student body, creating a richer learning community and bringing new perspectives to campus.
- First-generation college students will also bring with them the energy and commitment to learn, contribute, and give back to their schools.
- Perhaps most importantly, DREAMer’s Roadmap could help schools retain more students. According to the Migration Policy Institute, DACA recipients…are far less likely to have completed college (4 percent versus 18 percent [of U.S. adults]. Salamanca believes that giving students up-to-date information on available money could reduce the dropout rate.
The interest in DREAMer’s Roadmap from students is significant. Salamanca says that more than 30,000 people—or roughly half the number of undocumented high school seniors—are using the platform this year. About 10,000 of these users are downloading information anonymously, since the app lets people have access to everything on the platform without having to register.
Salamanca and her team are working on ways to get more details about users so they can add services that increase their chances of getting money, such as sending out push notifications to remind them of upcoming application deadlines and a three-button feature where students can self-report: I’M INTERESTED, I’VE APPLIED, I’VE RECEIVED.
In the next four to six months, Salamanca hopes to collaborate with schools to help more undocumented students remain in school and graduate. One idea would be to build a safe space for students where “they don’t feel they have to explain their traumas or who they are or how they’re feeling and could just be understood. We’re hoping they can build a community and the chances of them staying are a lot higher because they can find other people they can identify with.”
Robert Lerose is a New York-based freelance writer. He received the APEX Grand Award and seven Awards For Publication Excellence for his journalism. He was the 2004 winner of the Great American Think-Off, a philosophy competition open to the public.
- 5 leadership priorities to become AI-ready - October 9, 2026
- Learner agency comes first in AI-driven digital literacy - October 7, 2026
- Authority, responsibility, and accountability for AI in higher ed - October 5, 2026