FAFSA Pros Archives - Form Your Future

Mila: Doing What Works for Today’s Students and Families

Posted on January 13, 2020January 13, 2020 by Kelly Mae Ross

City: Augusta, Maine
Title: Manager of College Access and Outreach, Finance Authority of Maine (FAME)

A self-described “FAFSA geek,” Mila Tappan uses a variety of resources to help students and families with FAFSA completion. Short animated YouTube videos and Facebook Live events get critical information to students and families throughout Maine, where roughly 14,000 high school students graduate each year. Small incentives like coffee and gas gift cards make a big difference in getting families out to FAFSA events. Mila spoke with the Kresge Foundation about how life-changing FAFSA completion can be for students.

Kresge: Why is it important to increase FAFSA completion throughout Maine?

Mila: Maine is the oldest (average resident age) state in the nation. We are concerned that we don’t have enough students coming up through the workforce pipeline. Among the students that we do have, we find that our workforce doesn’t necessarily have the skills to fill the jobs that are coming in the next decade. Maine needs about 158,000 more workers with credentials to fill the jobs that we’re going to have in 2025.

FAFSA completion has huge connections to college-going. Ninety percent of students who file a FAFSA pursue higher education in the fall after graduating from high school. And if a student from a low-income household completes a FAFSA, he or she is more likely to go to college than their peers who do not. We want to make students aware of their opportunities and help them understand there is money out there to help pay for college. We believe that filing the FAFSA opens doors for many students who otherwise might think that going to college is not possible.

Kresge: What is an effective strategy in raising awareness about the importance of FAFSA completion?

Mila: With high school students, relationships make a difference. Having that school counselor or other adult in their life who is encouraging them to file the FAFSA is impactful. In addition to doing direct outreach, one of our key roles is to give school counselors tools and resources if they need help with the process. Maine has a great FAFSA portal. If a high school signs up and completes the agreement, they can access a list of their seniors, see who completed the FAFSA and who was selected for verification. This helps counselors determine where to devote their FAFSA completion efforts.

Kresge: What brought you to this work?

Mila: I started as a college financial aid professional, but I was interested in connecting with students earlier in the process. In a financial aid office, you only see the students who make it to that point. Unfortunately, we lose a lot of students before they ever get there. I like helping to make this process a little easier for families, especially those who don’t have as much support. Our efforts focus a lot on first-generation students and students from low-income households.

Kresge: What challenges do you face in working to boost FAFSA completion?

Mila: One challenge is that the FAFSA, by design, is a federal form, which creates fear and anxiety in some parents. Sometimes we have parents who don’t want to go through this process for a variety of reasons. Another related challenge is parent engagement. I don’t think any of us like to ask for help, but we want families to know that’s exactly why we’re here. We’ve found gift cards to be a great incentive in getting people out to events. A $10 gas or doughnut gift card can really boost attendance at events.

Kresge: Can you recall a specific student or family for which FAFSA completion made a big difference?

Mila: I’m thinking of a student who graduated a few years ago and, for a variety of reasons, didn’t think she could pursue higher education. Her parents were very concerned about student loan debt, so she took a year off and worked a full-time job. Soon she realized that working was not enough. She needed more than that. She needed to pursue school. So she completed the FAFSA, applied to our local community college, and was accepted.

We met during the summer before she was to begin her studies, and she was concerned because she had not received a bill. We pulled up the student portal and noticed a negative number at the bottom. That number meant that all of her tuition and fees were covered with grant funds, and that she would receive a small credit to use for books, supplies and travel back and forth to home. Most importantly, she realized she could do this without borrowing any money.

The tears ran down her cheeks and they ran down my cheeks. Until she completed that FAFSA and until she got that financial aid award letter, she did not realize it was possible. Completing the FAFSA can absolutely be life-changing.

Kresge: What advice would you give to other professionals working to increase FAFSA completion?

Mila: Stay open to changing how to do things. This year gift cards are working well, but in the future, it might be something else. Debriefing with school counselors and students is also important. Hearing from them helps us understand what gets them to events and what resources are most helpful in demystifying the FAFSA process.

This year we’re trying a friendly competition. We’re going to award $500 to the two schools that have the most significant increase in year-over-year FAFSA completion rates. Just keep trying things, talk to colleagues, see who’s doing what, and see what is successful. If you’ve got something that works, great, but know that the students are always changing too.

We’re using social media more than we ever have before, but we know that we’re reaching different audiences with different platforms. Facebook Live events, for example, tends to attract parents. But our YouTube videos and Instagram posts are more likely to attract students.

Sambat: Helping Every Single Student, No Matter How Long It Takes

Posted on November 22, 2019December 24, 2019 by Kelly Mae Ross

City: West Valley City, Utah
Title: College Access Advisor, Hunter High School

Sambat Kim, an alumnus of Hunter High School in West Valley City, returned to his alma mater to help more students pursue their educational goals after completing high school. To increase FAFSA completion among its students, Hunter High School partnered with the Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority, which was recently recognized in the National College Access Network’s 2018-2019 FAFSA Completion Challenge. Sambat spoke with the Kresge Foundation and shared more about his experiences working with fellow colleagues to educate students and families about college grant and scholarship opportunities.

Kresge: Why is it important for your community to boost FAFSA completion? What strategies do you use to get the word out about the FAFSA?

Sambat: In our communication with students and parents, we try to make it clear that completing the FAFSA will help pay for school, and in turn, open more educational doors. It’s not simply about the college applications, it’s about how to pay for college as well. We use a few strategies. We hold FAFSA nights, talk to seniors during college and career planning sessions, and I have one-on-one meetings with each senior. I also collaborate with my faculty and staff colleagues so they can help me get the word out and get everyone around the school talking about FAFSA.

In the West Valley City community, sometimes we can have a hard time engaging parents. Many of our parents work two or three jobs so it’s hard for them to come out during the evening. But last year we had great parent engagement. Almost 100 students attended with their parents! It was a crazy busy night, but we had a lot of success with helping students complete their FAFSAs.

Kresge: What brought you to this work, Sambat?

Sambat: I’m a Hunter High alumnus and during my senior year I got a lot of help from my teachers, college advisors, and counselors. Back then, the FAFSA didn’t open until January 1st. It was difficult to focus on high school, navigate college applications, and figure out how to pay for college. But I got a lot of help. In my senior year I applied to five colleges and for 70 scholarships. Completing the FAFSA was critical. And at the end of my senior year I got a full-ride scholarship to my dream school. Several years later, I graduated from college debt-free. And because of my personal experience, I wanted to come back to my community to tell students, not only my success story, but how to overcome challenges, and show that it’s possible to go to college and graduate debt- free. I want students to know that it’s possible, and that there are a lot of resources and people to help.

When you grow up in low-income communities, where people don’t really talk more about higher education, seeing someone from your school community get scholarships and grants can give students hope that they can achieve their goals as well.

Kresge: What is one challenge you face in motivating students? Motivating parents?

Sambat: I’m pretty sure every school, every community nationwide has some challenges. Sometimes I have a parent that doesn’t want to provide their tax information. Or I might have parents who are undocumented, and even though their students are citizens, they are reluctant to provide their information. I not only try talking to parents individually, I talk to scholarship donors and students, and try to find a way to break down barriers, just really helping people understand the FAFSA completion process. I don’t care how much time it takes for me to help one student. I don’t want money to be a burden or the reason a student cannot go to college. If they don’t complete the FAFSA, they might miss out on several scholarship opportunities, including the Utah Promise Scholarship. Just one application – the FAFSA – can mean more college opportunities.

Kresge: Is there a student or family experience that stands out in terms of helping with FAFSA completion?

Sambat: Every student has a different situation, but one of my students stands out. One of my students is homeless. Together with our counseling team, and our school social worker, we helped her every step of the way with applying to colleges and completing the FAFSA. She received a full Pell Grant and now attends college. When a student completes the FAFSA, the student is identified as dependent or independent. This student did not require any financial information from a parent or guardian and could complete the FAFSA on her own.

Kresge: Do you have any advice for fellow counselors or coaches trying to help boost FAFSA completion?

Sambat: I work with a lot of seniors with different situations. My advice? Make every effort to speak to students individually about their educational dreams and help them explore opportunities. And even though their plan may not be to go to college right away, help them complete the FAFSA just in case their plans change. If they complete the FAFSA, they’re less likely to miss important scholarship deadlines.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The Utah Promise Scholarship is a need-based, last-dollar scholarship. It covers tuition and fees for up to two years at Utah’s public colleges and universities as well as the state’s public technical colleges for qualifying students. The scholarship is open to both recent high school graduates and adult learners who: 1) have a high school diploma or equivalent, 2) have not previously earned a postsecondary degree, 3) are Utah residents, 4) have demonstrated financial need, and 5) accept all other forms of financial aid offered, according to the Utah System of Higher Education website.

When filing the FAFSA, students must indicate whether they are dependent or independent from their parents. According to the Federal Student Aid website: “A dependent student is assumed to have the support of parents, so the parents’ information has to be assessed along with the student’s, in order to get a full picture of the family’s financial strength.” The 2020-21 FAFSA asks 10 questions to determine a student’s dependency status. Students are considered independent if they meet criteria such as being married, being a veteran of the U.S. armed forces, or being an “unaccompanied youth who is homeless.”

Leslie: Don’t Be Afraid to Ask For Help

Posted on October 29, 2019December 24, 2019 by Kelly Mae Ross

City: Mesa, Arizona
Title: Peer Coach, Dobson High School

Leslie Flores is a 2019 graduate of Dobson High School in Mesa, Arizona, where she served as a FAFSA peer coach during the 2018-2019 school year. Dobson High School is in the Mesa Public Schools district, which recently won the National College Access Network’s 2018-2019 FAFSA Completion Challenge. Leslie, who now studies business entrepreneurship at Arizona State University, spoke with the Kresge Foundation and shared more about her experiences helping students and families complete the FAFSA and inspiring more students to pursue their dreams of a college education.

Kresge: Why is it important for your community at Dobson High School and in Mesa to increase FAFSA completion?

Leslie: It’s simple. More FAFSAs completed means more students in need receiving financial aid and more people enrolling in college. For our community specifically, we had a lot of students from low-income households who didn’t think college was even a possibility, but then find out they’re able to use FAFSA [federal and state aid] money to help with college costs. When I worked with fellow students, it was awesome to see their faces light up when they learned they received $1,000, $3,000 or even the top grant amounts. They instantly started thinking more about their goals. It’s imperative for our generation to pursue a college education. We can never have enough education because we never stop learning.

Kresge: From your experience, what is the most effective strategy in boosting FAFSA completion among your peers?

Leslie: Face-to-face communication helped to build bonds with students. Those bonds helped them feel more comfortable sharing personal information, which then helped us understand how to help them. All FAFSA peer coaches, there were five of us, were close in age to the students with whom we worked. As peer coaches, we also had to complete our own FAFSA applications. That was helpful because we had the experience of going through the application process. Sharing more about our own personal experience completing the FAFSA helped us address questions about the process.

We also created some social media accounts and an email address specifically for our Dobson FAFSA group. Parents and students emailed us questions or asked if they could meet up to talk through their questions.

Social media plays such a big part in our world, so the social media amplification really helped a lot. We used Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat, but Snapchat was our main platform. All five peer coaches had access to the Snapchat account and we tried to answer questions as often as possible, even when we were not at school. For example, if a student was working on their FAFSA late at night, they could just send us a quick Snapchat, and we would answer the question and try to help them along the way.

Kresge: What did you enjoy most about helping your peers and families with the FAFSA completion process?

Leslie: I really enjoyed seeing how surprised people were, how happy parents were, to see that going to college could be a possibility for their student, and that they weren’t looking at huge amounts of debt, particularly for Mesa Community College . If I’m not mistaken, if a student received the full Pell Grant amount, that pretty much covered the entire Mesa Community College tuition for one year. Before completing the FAFSA, some students were setting their sights on going straight to the workforce after high school. Just completing the FAFSA was a small part in paving new pathways for many of my peers.

Social media plays such a big part in our world, so the social media amplification really helped a lot.

And then for me personally, it was rewarding to translate helpful info about the FAFSA into Spanish. When we hosted FAFSA nights, me and another peer counselor who spoke Spanish would translate info for Spanish-speaking families. Dobson High School has a large Spanish-speaking community. It was really rewarding to help parents feel comfortable about asking questions directly.

Kresge: What is one challenge you faced while working to boost FAFSA completion rates, and how did you overcome it?

Leslie: As soon as the FAFSA becomes available in October there are students and parents who are super motivated. But there are also students who simply were not interested in completing it for any number of reasons. Our biggest challenge was motivating those students. Some would say, ‘I don’t see a point to it, I’m not going to do it, it’s a waste of my time, it’s too much time and energy, I don’t want to get my parents’ tax information, or I don’t want to make them an FSA ID.’ Those responses and situations were frustrating, and some were understandable. To address this, we tried to make people feel comfortable and understand that the process was not that difficult.

As peer coaches, our job was to aid these students. I, along with another peer coach, used the last hour of the school day as an unofficial official FAFSA hour. We’d meet with students who were having trouble completing the FAFSA and work with them over time, sometime over days or even weeks, instead of having to do it in just one sitting.

Kresge: Is there a standout story or interaction with a student that was particularly meaningful to you?

Leslie: One student comes to mind. We’ve known each other for many years. When she learned I was a peer coach, she approached me in class and said she didn’t want to talk to the counselors. But because she knew me well and saw the work I did around campus as a peer coach, she felt comfortable sharing with me that her parents were not citizens. And because they were not citizens, they didn’t have Social Security numbers, but they filed taxes as residents. This student was worried because she wanted to go to college and she wanted to complete the FAFSA application, but saw that it asked for parents’ Social Security numbers.

As a peer coach, many of these situations presented new learning experiences. We had to look up these answers or ask counselors for help. After doing some research, together we learned that the student is the only one who needs to provide a Social Security number. And for her parents, we could manually enter their tax information, and put in zeros for the Social Security numbers.

This interaction stood out because she felt comfortable working with me. It was a learning experience for both of us, and she was super patient with me. In the end, instead of electronically filing her FAFSA, we had to print it, have her parents sign it, then mail it.

Three weeks later she found me again on campus and she gave me the biggest hug. She told me she was so grateful that she talked to me because she received the maximum Pell Grant! Now she was going to go to college. Her parents were worried because although they were residents, it was a scary time for them to even do anything with the government. It was rewarding to see that she was happy, her parents were happy, and they were grateful. Later, throughout the year, when I met a student in that same situation, I knew how to help them.

Kresge: Do you have any advice that you would share with the next group of peer coaches that’s working at Dobson or elsewhere in the district or even the country?

Leslie: I would tell future peer coaches this: do your research and don’t give up. As a peer coach, we’re the ones who help students most with the FAFSA completion process. For some situations I had to do research on the FAFSA site or ask for help.

By ‘don’t give up,’ I mean some situations are going to be tough. Some students are going to be very unmotivated, but you have to push through it and look at the bigger picture because you’re not just doing it as the title of peer coach or just so Mesa has the highest completion rates. That shouldn’t be the reason. It should be so one more student can go to college, one more student is confident that they’re going to be able to make something of themselves, and that they’re going to make their family proud. This is about each student, not just the numbers, in the district and in the nation.

Kresge: What concrete advice do you have for students who don’t know where to begin?

Leslie: Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Just take everything one step at a time. And, believe! Believe that you’ll be able to get some sort of financial aid and that it can help you pursue your college dreams.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

In 2018-2019, the cost of tuition and fees at Mesa Community College for an in-state resident was $2,070 for a full-time student, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. The maximum Pell Grant award for that same time period was $6,095.

According to the office of Federal Student Aid, if a student’s parents do not have Social Security Number, they must enter 000-00-0000 when the FAFSA asks for this information. Also, parents without Social Security numbers will have to sign a printed version of the FAFSA (instead of signing electronically), as was the case with the student Leslie Flores worked with.