International for Processing Purposes: A Critical Examination of DACA Recipients’ Post-Secondary Admissions in Ohio

In 2011, Ohio passed state-wide legislation prohibiting undocumented students from receiving in-state resident tuition (ISRT). In 2013, a student-led advocacy campaign resulted in the Ohio Board of Regents extending ISRT consideration to recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a subsection of the larger population of undocumented students. This qualitative study examines the impact of DACA on ISRT policies and their implementation, particularly in states that have incongruent ISRT policy environments impacting their growing immigrant communities. This qualitative work utilizes a critical race methodology to analyze the perspectives of nine racially diverse DACA recipients as they applied to predominately white institutions (PWIs) of higher education across the state. Regardless of acknowledged or unacknowledged ISRT eligibility, evidence suggests public institutions of higher education in Ohio categorize DACA college applicants as “international for processing purposes (IFPP)” which creates additional, often unclear, administrative steps for applicants. These steps, when coupled with microaggressive interactions with staff who are largely unaware or misinformed about DACA, jeopardize applicants’ college enrollment. The result is a complex and inequitable admissions process full of incongruent policies and reliance on a racist-nativist infrastructure in the implementation of Ohio’s ISRT policy.