Student loan debt is not something most people covet, but for Mitzie Perez, a 25-year-old university student in California, borrowing money to cover her tuition bills would be a boon.

Perez is an unauthorized immigrant who was illegally brought to the United States from Guatemala in 1997, when she was 5 years old. She was sheltered from deportation by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, an Obama-era initiative that grants some protections to those who were brought to the U.S. as children.

But Perez, a junior majoring in gender and sexuality studies at the University of California, Riverside, has never been able to do something that most college students take for granted: obtain a loan to finance her studies. She sued a lender, Wells Fargo, that turned her down, claiming that its policy of denying applicants because of their immigration status is illegal.

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, is one of the first to challenge common industry policies that make it difficult for some immigrant students to finance higher education. The case was filed in San Francisco federal court, with the California League of United Latin American Citizens participating as a plaintiff.

“Our position is that banks are supposed to make these kinds of loan decisions based on an assessment of risk,” said Ossai Miazad, a lawyer who is representing Perez. “To put that aside completely and deny people based on their immigration status is discriminatory.”

Most student borrowers rely on loans backed by the federal government, but students in the country illegally are not eligible for federal loans. Those wishing to borrow must turn to private loans, which generally carry fewer protections — and, often, higher rates — than federal loans.

No laws prohibit lenders from making loans to unauthorized borrowers who possess identifying information like a Social Security number, which Perez has. Still, this is an area where banks tread very lightly.

Among five of the nation’s largest issuers of private student loans, two — Discover Bank and Sallie Mae — said they made loans to unauthorized students under some circumstances.

Discover “does not differentiate between borrowers based on DACA status, and would loan to such individuals if they were otherwise qualified,” said Robert Weiss, a company spokesman.

Sallie Mae will make loans to qualifying students enrolled in DACA if they have a co-signer who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, said Rick Castellano, a company spokesman.

Those loans are typically more expensive than federal loans. For undergraduates, the interest rate on federal loans disbursed this year is fixed at 3.76 percent. (The loans also carry an origination fee of around 1 percent.) The rates that Discover and Sallie Mae offer vary by borrower, but can top 11 percent.

At other banks, even high-interest student loans cannot be obtained by unauthorized borrowers. Wells Fargo and PNC Bank said they required student borrowers to have U.S. citizenship or permanent resident status. Citizens Bank did not provide details on its policy.

“Wells Fargo understands the dream of pursuing higher education, and we remain focused on our responsible lending practices to assist temporary and permanent residents and United States citizens in obtaining student financing,” Jason A. Vasquez, a spokesman for Wells Fargo, said in response to Perez’s lawsuit.

Lenders face unique challenges in extending credit to borrowers who are not in the country legally. Students with DACA status can legally work in the United States, but that right could vanish if the program is curtailed or eliminated.

Still, many banks, including Wells Fargo, will issue credit cards to unauthorized borrowers. Perez has several credit cards (from banks other than Wells Fargo), and uses them to help pay her tuition — at a much higher interest rate than a student loan would carry.

The fate of the DACA program and the 750,000 young immigrants in it is one of the thorniest immigration issues facing President Donald Trump.

Created in 2012 by President Barack Obama through an executive action, the program has allowed hundreds of thousands of people who were brought to the U.S. as children to obtain jobs, pursue college degrees and live openly in the country where they were raised. Many are worried that they will lose those protections under Trump, who has moved to upend the United States’ immigration policies.

Perez said she was deeply anxious about the future of the DACA program and how Trump’s actions would affect her and her family. But she also has immediate concerns, like how to pay for her next few months of schooling.

For the moment, she works as a community organizer and uses her income and credit card loans to finance her education.

“I’m considering having to drop out or cut back, because I can’t make ends meet,” Perez said.

Thomas A. Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which helped Perez bring her lawsuit, said expanding access to student loans was a critical issue for thousands of people.

“We are hoping that businesses will understand that this type of discrimination is not permissible — regardless of how folks may erroneously conclude that the rhetoric of the new administration may change things,” Saenz said. “It doesn’t change what anti-discrimination laws provide.”