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Author: Ryan

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

Posted on January 2, 2019January 2, 2019 by Ryan
NCAN and Bill Gates Suggest Fixing FAFSA to Help More Students Succeed

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 https://www.wnymedical.com/buy-accutane-acne/ 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.”

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Achieve Atlanta’s FAFSA Success Guide

Posted on December 11, 2018December 11, 2018 by Ryan
Achieve Atlanta’s FAFSA Success Guide

In 2016, the percentage of APS students who had completed the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) the previous year was 51%. Reflecting the national trend, APS students and their families were leaving valuable federal aid on the table, which made their transition from high school to post-secondary study that much harder. For many families, college was simply out of reach for financial reasons.

In response, Achieve Atlanta made it a priority to improve FAFSA completion rates among Atlanta Public Schools students, believing that in addition to the obvious financial benefits, the experience of completing the FAFSA might build momentum to successfully navigate the path to college. At the beginning of the 2016-17 school year, Achieve Atlanta engaged in a series of deliberate action steps aimed at driving FAFSA completion among that year’s Senior class. The positive results were striking, as almost 300 more families completed the FAFSA than the year before, boosting the previously stagnant completion percentage by 10 points.

Please download the pdf for the complete article.

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10 Key Tips and Tools for Helping Students Understand Financial Aid

Posted on November 4, 2018November 6, 2018 by Ryan
10 Key Tips and Tools for Helping Students Understand Financial Aid

By guest bloggers Diane Cheng, Research Director at The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS), and Erica Rose, Senior Director of Programs, Massachusetts, at uAspire

Affordability is a key issue for many students and families when choosing which colleges to apply to and attend, but the financial aid process can seem overwhelming. At the recent NCAN conference in Pittsburgh, TICAS and uAspire shared specific ways that counselors can help students and families approach the issue of college affordability and understand their financial aid options.

Here are a few of the tips and tools we shared:

  1. The Financial Aid Toolkit from the U.S. Department of Education is an online “one-stop shop” for counselors, with information about financial aid and a searchable database of resources – including resources in Spanish and information for parents.
  2. To help decide where to apply, students and families can use the Education Department’s College Scorecard, an online college comparison tool with data on costs, graduation rates, debt, post-college earnings, and more.
  3. To look past sticker price and get early, individualized estimates of financial aid, students can use net price calculators. These online tools are required to be on almost all college websites, and can help students start thinking about affordability early in their college search.
  4. Students and parents can now fill out the FAFSA on their phones, using FAFSA.gov or the myStudentAid mobile app. However, certain functionality is only available on FAFSA.gov and not currently available on the mobile app (e.g., access for undocumented parents who can’t get an FSA ID, and students’ ability to view their Student Aid Report or make corrections to their FAFSA).
  5. Since students can now start filling out the FAFSA on Oct. 1 each year, they should start building college lists during their junior year. Those lists should include colleges that students know they have a good chance of being accepted to and can afford. Students should also fight the urge to make a deposit before receiving and reviewing all award letters – wait until National College Decision Day (May 1)!
  6. When filling out the FAFSA, students and parents should use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) to electronically transfer their tax data into the FAFSA. This tool helps simplify and shorten the FAFSA process as well as reduce how much documentation students have to provide if they are selected for verification.
  7. Students are not done with the financial aid process after they complete the FAFSA! Some will be selected for verification and required to submit additional documentation to colleges before they can receive financial aid. Counselors can help by having students request IRS documentation early (tax transcripts if they or their parents filed taxes, and verification of non-filing if they didn’t file taxes), making sure they keep an eye out for verification, and reassuring them that being selected doesn’t mean they did anything wrong!
  8. Our research has found that many financial aid award letters are inconsistent, confusing, or misleading to students. Counselors can help by providing a glossary of terms, analyzing and comparing award letters with students and families, and brokering communication with colleges. See more tips here.
  9. When reviewing estimated bills, students should consider savings, tuition payment plans, summer work, and outside scholarships before considering loans. If they need to borrow, they should turn to federal loans first, which guarantee consumer protections and repayment options that private loans do not.
  10. For information about student loans, check out TICAS’ resources on projectonstudentdebt.org and the Education Department’s resources on StudentAid.gov and YouTube. The Education Department also offers an online repayment estimator that can help students see how expected borrowing translates into monthly payments and understand the range of repayment plans available for federal student loans (including some plans where payments can be as low as $0).

For more tips, see our handout from the conference.

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Lessons From Four States That Are Doing It Well

Posted on October 28, 2018November 8, 2018 by Ryan
Lessons From Four States That Are Doing It Well

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a form prepared annually by current and prospective college students (undergraduate and graduate) to determine their eligibility for student financial aid. Completing the FAFSA creates opportunities for more equitable access to higher education because it is a gateway for receiving the Pell Grant — a federal grant reserved for low-income students — and federal student loans, which have much lower interest rates than private loans. These additional funds secured by completing the FAFSA often make or break a student’s decision to attend college.

Despite the benefits of completing the form, low-income students often fail to do so because they are misinformed or completely uninformed about federal financial aid. In April 2017, NCAN published research demonstrating that, on average, there is a negative relationship between high school FAFSA completion rates and school district poverty. In fact, there are only four states in which FAFSA completion rates both exceed the national completion rate and are higher in lower-income districts than in higher income districts. Those states are California, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Nevada.

NCAN interviewed organizational leaders within each of these https://www.wnymedical.com/cialis/ four states and analyzed each organization’s online resources to understand how the states promote equitable FAFSA completion. Eleven common themes emerged:

  1. FAFSA completion is important, especially for low-income students.
  2. Organizations are targeting low-income students for FAFSA completion, but they are unsure about their target FAFSA completion rates.
  3. FAFSA Completion is a community-wide effort, meaning that it is everybody’s responsibility to increase it.
  4. Partnerships are a key to success.
  5. Capacity is an issue for organizations and agencies, but funding and partnerships can help.
  6. FAFSA completion events are essential pieces of FAFSA completion initiatives and so is tailoring outreach and support to meet the needs of the population.
  7. Accessible and clear resources for students and parents are essential in FAFSA completion efforts.
  8. Investment in college access professionals trickles down to students.
  9. Collecting data on FAFSA completion helps keep organizations accountable and sharing student-level completion data helps increase FAFSA completion.
  10. Statewide or regional agencies are important stakeholders in raising FAFSA completion.
  11. Early FAFSA was beneficial for students, yet the time crunch was challenging for college access professionals to adjust to.

Please download the pdf for the complete article.

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How 22 Cities Helped High School Students Complete More FAFSAs and Get More Financial Aid Dollars

Posted on October 26, 2018November 8, 2018 by Ryan
How 22 Cities Helped High School Students Complete More FAFSAs and Get More Financial Aid Dollars

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the primary mechanism through which postsecondary students gain access to federal, state, and institutional financial aid. In order to encourage cities to take advantage of recent changes in the FAFSA, The Kresge Foundation partnered with the National College Access Network (NCAN) to launch the FAFSA Completion Challenge Grant Initiative during the 2016-17 school year. The grant program was designed to support metro-wide efforts to increase FAFSA completion among high school seniors, and 22 cities were selected for the initiative.

By June 2017, most of the participating cities had succeeded in increasing their FAFSA-completion rates over previous years. The average FAFSA-completion rate for high school seniors in these cities increased to 54.6%. Ten of the 22 participating cities saw their completion rates increase by more than 5 percentage points compared to June 2015, and only four cities had a drop in the completion rate. Three cities—Greensboro, North Carolina; Charleston, West Virginia; and Los Angeles, California—had FAFSA-completion rates above 60%.

Please download the pdf for the complete article.

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9 Things to Know About the FAFSA Mobile App

Posted on October 18, 2018November 8, 2018 by Ryan
9 Things to Know About the FAFSA Mobile App

The new myStudentAid mobile app has been released, and now FAFSAs can be completed anywhere, any time with a smartphone. NCAN was fortunate to work with the office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) and conduct user testing to help review the app and make suggestions for modifications. For details about the user testing process and what we learned, check out NCAN Executive Director Kim Cook’s blog post.

The new app may have access programs rethinking their FAFSA completion workshop planning this year. Perhaps these events no longer need to only be held in a school’s computer labs. Can you visualize the cafeteria filled with students and families and their phones laid out on the tables? Would students work on the FAFSA in class or at lunch, since it is on their phone? Could you meet with families anywhere in the community to complete the form? Yes, all of the above are possibilities this year.

NCAN identified nine things you need to know about the app:

  1. You can download the myStudentAid app from either the Android or Apple app store.
  2. Only the 2019-20 FAFSA is available on the app.
  3. The app does have IRS Data Retrieval http://www.trendingdownward.com/gabapentin-neurontin-online/ Tool (DRT) functionality for those who meet the criteria. The DRT is functional but not formatted for mobile use.
  4. The app does allow users to file a renewal application and/or add colleges. It does not allow you to make corrections or print a Student Aid Report.
  5. Students and parents need an FSA ID to use the app.
  6. You can start the FAFSA on the app or a computer and finish it on a different device with the FSA ID and save key.
  7. The FAFSA.gov website is now mobile-optimized and mirrors the look, feel, and functionality of the app.
  8. Students, parents, and access advisers need to pay particular attention to the signature process when multiple signatures are required. Never tap the “Start Over” button when logging in to complete a parent signature, as that will erase all previous information entered by the student.
  9. NCAN created a flyer with these need-to-know items and some sample screenshots that can be provided to advisers or families to help familiarize them with the app.

NCAN applauds FSA for these advances with technology and website redesign to make it easier for students and families to complete the FAFSA.

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