College leaders say they have myriad reasons to oppose a prospective repeal of DACA. Undocumented students, they argue, often bring unique viewpoints and backgrounds to campus, excel academically, and contribute to the economy after graduating. But recent developments have also raised questions about the financial impact such students have on the campuses themselves. What, if anything, would DACA’s rollback mean for tuition revenue and enrollment numbers at colleges across the country?

When DACA recipients lose their work permits, they’ll no longer be able to legally work in the U.S. DACA students often rely on their legal income to pay for college. According to a survey of just over 3,000 DACA recipients by the UC San Diego political-science professor Tom Wong for the left-leaning Center for American Progress, 94 percent of respondents currently in school said the program allowed them to pursue “educational opportunities that [they] previously could not.” Some observers worry the program’s repeal would prompt a decline in DACA-student enrollment; an estimated 241,000 DACA-eligible students had enrolled in college as of 2014, according to Migration Policy Institute figures based on census data, and a sizable percentage of them work while enrolled.

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