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Financial Resources

We understand that a 4 - year college degree is a costly journey. Please keep in mind these things to consider about Financial Aid. As always we encourage you to reach out to UMD's Office of Student Financial Aid at for any questions about your financial aid account. If you should need assistance contacting someone from that department please contact us at undoc@umd.edu so that we may try and connect you to someone in that office. 

 

In order to begin to start figuring out the cost of attendance that you may have we encourage you to view the cost of tuition and fees for your academic year. It is important to note that most if not all higher education institutions raise the price of tuition each year by a certain percentage. Each year we encourage you to view that year's cost of attendance to stay accurately informed. Please also note that certain programs may have something called a differential which means that you cost of tuition and fees will be slightly higher than the average cost of fees. Please check with your program or program advisor in order to ask if your program is a part of the tuition differential.

It is crucial for undocumented students to know that the majority of undocumented students are considered out - of state- when accepted into UMD even if a student has in-county costs for their community college. This is important to note since out of state will mean that you will be charged out of state tuition rates unless you are able to qualify to adjust your status to in-state. In order to petition to be considered for instate please view the accordion labeled Residency Reclassification below.

 

Maryland State Financial Aid Application

Beginning September 2019, students regardless of their immigration status will be able to go to community college for free (if their families meet the income requirements determined by Maryland state). If someone qualifies for the Maryland Dream Act, they also qualify for Maryland state grants and scholarships. However, they must submit the MSFAA by MARCH 1 each year for the following year's consideration. 

For example: If you are filling out the MSFFA for the year 2022-2023, you will be required to submit your MSFAA by March 1st of 2022.

For information on the Maryland State Financial Aid Application go to their website here and take a look at the user guide here

If you have specific questions for attending the University of Maryland contact our Financial Aid liaison working with undocumented and immigrant students

  • Malina Heng | 0102 Lee Building | mheng@umd.edu | 301-314-9859

The Residency Reclass application, policies, and review is administered by the Office of the Registrar. 

 

If you are a student that would like to be considered for the Maryland Dream Act please review the requirements here

 

If you are a student who has DACA please view the requirements for residency reclass here

 

At the Office of Immigrant and Undocumented Student Life, we understand that the process of understanding and applying to in-state consideration can be complicated. If you are unsure where to start, we suggest you contact Residency Reclass and also feel free to contact us at undoc@umd.edu if you would like to talk to our coordinator about how to best support you through this process. 

 

We encourage prospective students to fill out the MSFAA and search for outside scholarships. Much of this work needs to be done in the prior year of your enrollment since most scholarship deadlines are based on the following year's enrollment. 

If you would like us to reach out to a specific college/department to see if your college program has scholarships please let us know. There may or may not be some flexibility based on the college/program. 

We believe that you can't start the financial conversations too early, so please reach out to us to set up a meeting in person, over the phone, or via Zoom to discuss what paying for college may look like for you. While we may not have all the answers our goal is to share the information we have to best support you in this process.

The Department of Student Affairs has a Student Crisis Fund. This fund is for any any student in crisis that needs funding for a non-tuition related expense. We highly encourage you to apply to this fund. If you should have any questions about this fund feel free to reach out to us and we will gladly help get you in contact with anyone from that department that may help you with any questions. 

 

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