January 2019 - Form Your Future

“Football taught me that not everything is given to you. If you’re going to win, you have to work hard for it,” says Kyron.

“I have a good work ethic. I always wanted to go to college, even since I was 6 or 7 years old. I had college installed in my mind since I was young. I wanted to go to college and play football.”

“I’m the youngest of my siblings, but I do have young cousins. I hold high expectations for them to go to college, too,” he says. “I stay on them on their grades.”

Kyron has other college dreams besides football. “I’m excited about meeting new people,” he says. “I’m excited to meet the next lawyers and doctors. I am excited about meeting people from different states or different countries. I want to surround myself with people with bright futures, because I have a bright future.”

How he almost missed out on financial aid

Kyron had to figure out how to pay for college. He remembers being surprised about financial aid.

“The principal at my old school gave a presentation. He said financial aid is money you get for college based on your mother and father’s tax return.”

“I was like, wow. I thought you either apply for scholarships or you just pay out of pocket.” He hadn’t heard about other forms of financial aid, like grants or loans.

“But I did not know anything about any FAFSA,” Kyron continues. “I thought you just sent in your mother and father’s tax returns and you just receive money. I didn’t know how important the FAFSA was until it was almost too late.”

Kyron started getting acceptance letters to colleges he’d applied to. But he knew something was wrong.

“I wasn’t getting any money. My friends started receiving financial aid award letters, and I wasn’t. They were getting a lot of money. Some of them got full rides to college. The stuff I received? It said I’ve got to pay $10,000 or $15,000.”

He found out from his school counselor, Ms. Boston, that it was because he hadn’t filled out the FAFSA. “It wasn’t until February that I’m like, okay, let me fill out this FAFSA.”

Filling out the FAFSA with his mom

Kyron talked to his mom about the tax information he needed to fill it out. “I had to explain it to my mom because she and my dad didn’t go to college. I told her, ‘We’ve got to get this done. If you give me your taxes, I’ll fill out everything.’”

“I was like, wow. I thought you either apply for scholarships or you just pay out of pocket.”

“She was like, ‘Which year’s taxes do you need?’ It confused us a bit because we thought we needed her 2016 taxes and she didn’t have them yet. But Ms. Boston told us the FAFSA just needed 2015, the year before.”

Kyron created an FSA ID for himself and his mom. “I put the usernames and passwords up in a safe place that I know will be easy for us to find. Then I filled out the FAFSA. It only took like 30 minutes tops.”

After Kyron completed his FAFSA, Ms. Boston helped him make sure he was getting financial aid from the colleges he’d applied to.

“Every day, Ms. Boston was telling me to call colleges and check my financial aid status. I thank her for that. She is an encouraging person and good individual,” says Kyron.

Pretty soon, Kyron got his financial aid award letter. “I’m getting money for college now. Everybody was getting financial aid, and I was just left out. I would have just been sitting here looking stupid,” he laughs.

Kyron’s advice: Fill out the FAFSA early

“Do your FAFSA as quick as possible. Really get it done. It is very important. Take the time out of the day to do it and get it all over with so you can receive money for college. I can’t stress that enough.”

“Just stay calm,” Kyron says. “One of the schools will give you the financial aid package you need. And get to know your school counselors, too.”

“I have days where I’m kind of nervous about college, but I’m excited to try this new thing for my family. Maybe I could make this a new trend in my family, and we’ll all go to college.”

Kyron will attend Central Michigan University and plans to major in business. He will be playing football in college and hopes to someday start a youth center where kids can play sports.

By Allie Ciaramella, former NCAN Communications Manager

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is notorious for its infuriating complexity, mind-numbing antiquity, and undeniable importance to would-be college students. As the gateway to not only federal support including Pell Grants but also many state and institutional funds, the FAFSA is the key to college access for millions of low-income students each year.

A lesser-known aspect of the form is its relationship to college success. But advocates for higher education like philanthropist Bill Gates, whose foundation is a major supporter of NCAN’s work to simplify the FAFSA, are well aware that the not-so-simple act of filing the form can have life-changing consequences for Americans nationwide. That’s why Gates is explaining his intent focus on identifying ways to #FixFAFSA to help more low-income and first-generation students access and succeed in postsecondary education.

The connection between FAFSA-filing and college enrollment is clear – and strong: Students who apply for federal aid are 64 percent more likely to enroll in postsecondary education directly after high school than those who don’t apply. Once on a campus, FAFSA completers are 72 percent more likely than their non-completing peers to persist in college.

Although the impact of FAFSA completion on the ultimate indicator of postsecondary success – completion – is less clear, students cannot obtain a degree if they fail to persist or even enroll. So it stands to reason that simplifying the federal aid application so more students complete it can only have positive effects on the educational attainment and economic success of the nation’s workforce.

This is not an abstract concept. Just ask Candace Chambers, a U.S. Department of Agriculture employee who said filing the FAFSA got her the aid she needed to finish a degree in four years. Or Samps Taylor, a sophomore studying instrumental performance at Alcorn State University, who calls financial aid “the lifeline for what I’m doing.” Or Camryn Pollard, a freshman at the College of Wooster who plans to become an FBI agent and says that “filling out the FAFSA was the greatest thing I could ever do.”

These students were fortunate to have support from NCAN members Woodward Hines Education Foundation, the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance, and College Now Greater Cleveland. Hundreds of thousands of low-income students who must fend for themselves fall victim each year to “the leaky FAFSA pipeline.” Among those who do manage to get the information they need to complete the form, NCAN estimates that half are flagged for verification and 25 percent of those selected go on to be thwarted by the overly burdensome process, which disproportionately affects the low-income students who need aid most by requiring them to submit extra paperwork to prove – yet again – that their financial situation warrants the money to which they’re entitled.

There are ideas for fixing FAFSA. In a Gates Foundation video, experts suggest eliminating unnecessary questions, making the process applicable for all students including part-time and returning ones at different institution types, and utilizing information the federal government already has so applicants don’t have to provide it repeatedly.

“Simplifying financial aid means that we as access advisors spend far less time talking about process,” NCAN Executive Director Kim Cook says in the video, “and far more time actually advising students about what their careers will look like in the future.”

Month: January 2019

Kyron: Better Late Than Never

How he almost missed out on financial aid

Filling out the FAFSA with his mom

Kyron’s advice: Fill out the FAFSA early

NCAN and Bill Gates Suggest Fixing FAFSA to Help More Students Succeed