6 Ways to Make FAFSA Completion a Community-Wide Effort

Posted on September 14, 2021 by Kelly Mae Ross

This piece originally appeared on the Principal Project blog. It is reposted here with permission.

By Ralph Aiello

For many students, the ability to enroll in and complete college hinges on financial barriers that can feel outside of a family’s control. The truth is, students who need aid to attend college are often eligible for quite a bit – but to receive it, they must first fill out the FAFSA, which can feel intimidating and confusing – especially to low-income and first-generation college-bound students and their families. This is an urgent equity issue, and my district has made it a major priority to ensure that every student has the support they need to complete the FAFSA.

Boosting FAFSA completion rates requires us to create a culture that inspires hope and lets students know they’re not alone – that there are adults here to help them through the process. It’s a big undertaking, and you can’t do it alone as a school leader, but you can spearhead a community approach.

Here are the ways my district pushes for FAFSA completion with wraparound supports and outreach, taking a full-community approach.

You can also find resources to help you in these efforts via the National College Attainment Network:

Explore NCAN’s FAFSA Resource Library

6 ways our district works to boost FAFSA completion

1. Train a pool of volunteers to offer one-on-one help with FAFSA completion.

As complex as the FAFSA can feel, the people with whom students engage on a daily basis – staff members, community members or even other students – can assist with a lot, and they refer those with more intricate questions to a higher-level professional, like the school counselor.

Any FAFSA-completion event is going to have a bigger impact with a team of volunteers trained to help people navigate their way through the FAFSA and answer general questions. Invest early in training so you can leverage volunteer support all school year long. Check out resources from NCAN that can support your team with training.

2. Emphasize the amount of money that might be at stake.

Some families don’t even know that the FAFSA exists – or how much support might be available to their students if they fill it out. When we show families the amount of funding that they could be eligible to receive – whether in the form of a loan or a grant – the number tends to catch their attention. When people realize their student might have the opportunity to attend a local college for almost free, they’re more motivated to overcome obstacles to navigating the FAFSA.

3. Carry out awareness campaigns to address myths and fears about the FAFSA.

Even for families that do know about the FAFSA, misinformation can get in the way of completion. Families might worry about exposing their immigration status or financial situations that aren’t sorted out the way they’d like, making the FAFSA feel intimidating – and even risky.

Get the word out, through conversations, letters and social media campaigns, that the information shared in the FAFSA won’t be flagged by the IRS or immigration authorities.

Enlist as many staff members, community partners, parents and students as you can to spread the message that the FAFSA is only used to determine how much money students can afford to pay for college and, therefore, the aid they’re entitled to. Check out NCAN’s tips for communication around the FAFSA.

4. Engage community partners.

When the same messages reach families through multiple channels, they’re likely to engage more. Partner with community organizations around FAFSA completion: local college access networks, Boys and Girls Clubs, PTAs – anyone who is available to support your students. Partners can become trained to assist students, spread information, make computer labs available for FAFSA completion and just serve as additional touchpoints. Explore NCAN resources on engaging partners.

5. Lean on student groups and peer mentors.

When you look around a high school campus, most of the people there are students. How can you draw them into such an important effort? In my district, peer mentoring has transformed postsecondary advising in many ways, and one is in spreading the word about FAFSA. The student “cadets” have a social media division, where they use Instagram and other platforms to get students’ attention and share information.

6. Go where the families go – until you reach everyone.

We try to get as innovative as we can to reach every family. If they don’t come to us, we’re going to them. We are also working on some text-messaging capabilities, and we’re finding our way into their world.

We partnered with a TRiO program that has a mobile unit on buses. We roll the buses into students’ communities, open up shop and go knocking on doors to say, “Hey, come now to the Walmart, or the church parking lot, or just the sidewalk in your neighborhood.” They come onto the bus, and we help them fill out their FAFSA or college application right there.

We go on the radio. We go to community events. We translate everything into Spanish, Portuguese and Haitian Creole, and we hire interpreters for our events. We try to exhaust every opportunity we can, and reach out until we reach everyone.

Explore NCAN’s FAFSA Resource Library

About the Author

Ralph Aiello is director of school counseling at his district in Broward County, FL

MCAN’s Strategies to Engage Students and Facilitate FAFSA Completion During the Summer – or Any Time

Posted on September 2, 2021September 7, 2021 by Kelly Mae Ross

By Sara Melnick, Deputy Director, National College Attainment Network

As of the writing of this blog post, FAFSA completions among high school seniors are down 4.3% from last year. But some states have found ways to buck this downward trend and engage students during the summer months.

NCAN recently hosted a webinar highlighting some of the innovative strategies states are using to increase their completion rates. The states that presented on this webinar all received funding from NCAN (via the Kresge Foundation) to increase FAFSA completion for the high school graduating class of 2021.

Even though a new school year is upon us, many of the strategies discussed during this webinar are relevant to facilitating FAFSA completion at any point in the school year. And even though the strategies discussed during this webinar were implemented at the state level, almost all are relevant to local and district-level efforts focused on increasing FAFSA completion.

The first presenter on this webinar was Jamie Jacobs, deputy director of the Michigan College Access Network (MCAN). Jamie described a number of FAFSA completion strategies MCAN has been implementing throughout the summer.

FAFSA Deadline Extension

MCAN made policy changes to facilitate FAFSA completion and, ultimately, college enrollment.

Michigan’s state priority FAFSA deadline has historically been March 1. But MCAN knew that, especially this year, students might mistakenly believe that they would not be able to enroll in college if they missed that deadline, even though it is only a priority deadline.

To address this challenge, MCAN worked with the Michigan Department of Treasury – the agency in Michigan that established the state FAFSA deadline – to push the deadline back to May 1 for this year. The choice of May 1 was strategic on the part of MCAN because, in Michigan, May 1 (Decision Day) has for about a decade been associated with the celebration of postsecondary decisions and enrollment. The shift of the priority deadline from March 1 to May 1 had two positive outcomes:

It provided more time to encourage students to complete the FAFSA using, among other strategies, student incentives, competitions, and cash prizes for FAFSA completion.
The narrative around the looming and impending March 1 deadline shifted to be more closely associated with the upbeat and celebratory May 1 Decision Day.

Strategic Outreach

MCAN sent short, attractive, direct-to-students communications via email, social media, and paid advertising focused on FAFSA completion.

The organization also reached out to school staff early in the summer to engage them in getting the word out about FAFSA completion to amplify/reinforce the messages students were receiving directly.

And throughout the state, MCAN is helping to disseminate a clear message to students and families that it’s not too late to enroll in a postsecondary program. The organization has engaged higher ed, K-12, and state-level association partners, such as the Parent Teacher Association, in this messaging since, when this webinar aired, there were still many postsecondary institutions that were still enrolling students.

Additionally, MCAN is encouraging their postsecondary partners across the state to reach out to students who have been admitted to an institution but have not submitted a FAFSA. MCAN is appealing to the desire of these institutions to increase their “yield,” since a student with a completed FAFSA is likely to have a much different – and potentially favorable – financial aid package and might therefore be more likely to attend that institution.

Expanded Summer Advising

MCAN worked with their state community service coalition to deploy summer AmeriCorps VISTA staff to double down on advising to help mitigate summer melt. The major focus of this advising was FAFSA completion.

This strategy was still in its early stages at the time of this webinar but showed much promise, especially around developing and delivering a coordinated summer melt strategy for the first time.

To help get the word out about these advising opportunities, MCAN reached out to partners, such as the state-level associations for superintendents, principals, and others. Essentially, MCAN has become a communication arm of these associations – writing plug-and-play emails and social media posts – so it’s easy for associations to get the word out that these college access services are available.

We are grateful to MCAN for sharing these insights and ideas with us. As we prepare for the release of the new FAFSA on Oct. 1, stay tuned for more tips on how to boost FAFSA completion in your communities.

3 More States Add FAFSA Completion as a Requirement for High School Graduation

Posted on August 3, 2021August 6, 2021 by Kelly Mae Ross

By Raymond AlQaisi, Policy and Advocacy Manager, National College Attainment Network

In an apparent resurgence to the growing “mandatory FAFSA” movement, three new states – Alabama, California, and Colorado – have adopted policies that will make completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) a high school graduation requirement.

In 2020, more than a dozen states were considering mandatory FAFSA policies but ultimately did not pass them, with no new adoptions last year – following the onset of the severe COVID-19 pandemic.

The basis for mandatory FAFSA policies is that completion of the aid form is the strongest predictor of college enrollment. Students are more likely to pursue higher education when they are aware of the financial resources available to them. Given this, NCAN supports mandatory FAFSA policies when adequate supports are provided to students in the process – among other important considerations for such policies to be effective.

Illinois is the last state to have adopted the policy, and at the time, when ranked nationally, was among the top 10 states for FAFSA completion. This cycle, Illinois is in the top five 5; 66% of the high school senior class has so far completed the federal financial aid form. Illinois is also currently among a handful of states that have seen increased FAFSA completion as compared to last year.

NCAN’s latest reporting that shows FAFSA completion for high school seniors is down significantly, which presents great concerns for college access. The national completion rate has declined by roughly 5% from the year prior, as of July 16, amounting to over a quarter-million fewer FAFSAs filed since 2019.

Reasonably, states are seeking ways to counteract these trends and mandatory FAFSA is a promising answer.

Alabama

In April, Alabama’s state board of education approved the adoption of mandatory FAFSA to take effect for the high school graduating class of 2022. Notably, this is a short timeline for the state to ask districts to implement, as other states have provided at least one year before their policies would take effect.

According to reports, the state board assures that the ability for a student to opt out and graduate is simple, though it will require completion of a waiver form. With support from state leaders, including Governor Kay Ivey, the policy is intended to help the state reach its goals for postsecondary attainment and workforce development.

Some individuals have raised concerns about the state ensuring students have the support they need to complete the FAFSA. Alabama Possible, an NCAN member, celebrated the policy’s enactment but has publicly called for the state to provide what is necessary for it to be successful.

Chandra Scott, executive director of Alabama Possible, wrote that “funding must follow this critical new policy to make sure that schools can provide the needed supports to students and families to make sure that those who will benefit most will be able to fulfill the graduation requirement and complete the FAFSA.”

California

At the end of June, California enacted its 2021-22 state budget, which included such a FAFSA requirement to begin the 2022-23 academic year.

California, in a first to take this approach, is placing the “requirement” on local educational agencies (LEAs) to confirm that their seniors (those who have not opted out) complete either the FAFSA or California Dream Act Application. The state ensures that students’ ability to graduate will not be negatively impacted by opting out. Additionally, to facilitate the process, California will issue further guidance and standardized forms for LEAs.

Colorado

Last month, the Colorado state legislature passed the Higher Education Student Success bill which included such a requirement.

The law establishes a grant program for LEAs that choose to adopt the requirement, supplementing efforts to assist students in FAFSA completion. Notably, the funding attached that drives this requirement is a unique approach and will help ensure students are well-supported for future FAFSA cycles.

The bill text cites support for partnerships between LEAs, higher education institutions, and community-based organizations that all play a role in students’ FAFSA process; and says that the program will support postsecondary attainment, considering the pandemic’s severe economic impacts.

NCAN Members Find Ways to Offer FAFSA Assistance, Despite COVID Barriers

Posted on March 3, 2021June 23, 2021 by Kelly Mae Ross

By Ainsley Ash, NCAN Communications Intern

Anyone in the college access and success space knows Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion is crucial to increasing the odds that a student will pursue postsecondary education. According to one study, 92% of high school seniors who completed the FAFSA enrolled by the November following graduation, versus 51% who did not complete a FAFSA.

FAFSA completion numbers are way down for the high school class of 2021, and states are responding by ramping up their efforts to assist students.

According to NCAN’s #FormYourFuture FAFSA Tracker, only 39.9% of the class of 2021 has completed the FAFSA, as of Feb. 19. That’s about 9% less than the previous academic year.

As the end of the school year draws closer, it will be a race against the clock for districts to increase their FAFSA completion numbers before students graduate and potentially become more difficult to contact.

Here are some strong examples of the work that organizations across the country are doing to increase FAFSA completion rates.

Implementing State- and District-Level FAFSA Challenges

The Michigan College Access Network (MCAN) organizes the College Cash Campaign. A major component of this campaign is to create a competition that encourages high schools to reach at least 75% FAFSA completion. MCAN has a comprehensive list of recommendations for how individual schools can increase their FAFSA numbers. They include examples such as hosting FAFSA nights, publicly tracking FAFSA goal progress within high schools, and offering incentives to students.

MCAN is certainly not the only NCAN member sponsoring a statewide FAFSA campaign. Take the Florida College Access Network, for example. Their statewide FAFSA initiative aims to reward schools whose yearly FAFSA completion rates increase by at least 5 percentage points.

[See a list of other states that have implemented challenges to boost FAFSA completion.]

Of course, statewide organizations are not the only ones that can launch FAFSA challenges.

In the fall, the School District of Lancaster launched a FAFSA completion campaign filled with FAFSA days, one-on-one meetings, and a “FAFSA Phone Blitz,” during which parents received phone calls asking them to schedule FAFSA appointments.

Similarly, Baltimore City Public Schools uses a FAFSA Tracker, managed and created by Chiefs for Change, that shows the leaderboard for each school’s FAFSA completion rates. The district encouraged students to register for their virtual “FAFSA Fest,” which took place last week. During the event, students and their families received one-on-one FAFSA assistance and were entered into a raffle to win prizes.

Utilizing Student-Level FAFSA Completion Data

Most states have the ability to share student-level FAFSA completion data with districts, which can be distributed to schools to identify which students have completed the financial aid form.

NCAN member Iowa College Aid has utilized these data so well that every public high school in the state automatically receives this information. In this article, Iowa College Aid details how they set up this data-sharing process.

Once a school or educational organization has access to student-level FAFSA completion data, this information can make the process of identifying and assisting individual students much more efficient and effective.

Offering Virtual FAFSA Assistance

In another effort to meet the needs of more individual students, many organizations are adapting to serve students virtually. Online financial aid assistance offers a safe and effective way to reach students and their families.

The Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance is now offering virtual office hours and email communication to help students complete their FAFSA.

Other organizations are taking large-scale, often schoolwide events online. For instance, the Connecticut Association of Professional Financial Aid Administrators and the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority have transitioned to hosting virtual FAFSA days for students in their states.

Broward County Public Schools in Florida has hosted a number of virtual FAFSA completion assistance events throughout the 2020-21 school year. You can learn Hosting FAFSA Drive-Insmore about how the district planned these events and recruited volunteers for support on the NCAN blog.

Hosting FAFSA Drive-Ins

NCAN member Get2College has hosted several successful FAFSA drive-in events for students in Mississippi. College access organizations in Arizona are doing the same thing.

Essentially, families drive up to an outdoor location, remain in their cars, and are assisted by a socially distant staff member. These drive-in FAFSA sessions are similar to pre-pandemic ones, albeit a little bit more high tech – complete with tablets, mobile hotspots, and generators.

These practices can certainly be reproduced and modified to fit the needs of specific college attainment organizations and communities. For NCAN members working to support the class of 2021, FAFSA completion efforts such as these can be the difference in whether or not a student unlocks thousands of financial aid dollars and, ultimately, enrolls in college.

(FAFSA drive-in event image courtesy of Woodward Hines Education Foundation)

Get2College’s Advice for Planning and Hosting a Drive-In FAFSA Completion Event

Posted on October 22, 2020January 7, 2021 by Kelly Mae Ross

By Jamese Carrell, Member Services Associate

A FAFSA drive-in was the talk of the virtual town at this year’s NCAN 2020 conference. And because of all the excitement around this type of event, we wanted to share with the larger network the inspiration and planning it will take to develop a drive-in event within your community.

To learn all about this type of event, we sat down with Get2College staff members Shannon Grimsley, outreach program director, and Danny Thompson, assistant director of GEAR UP outreach. Get2College is a program of the Woodward Hines Education Foundation in Mississippi and an NCAN member.

So what exactly is a FAFSA drive-in? In four short bullet points, here’s the best way to explain it:

The FAFSA drive-in will happen in an outdoor school space with strict COVID-19 guidelines. Appointments will be 45 minutes each.
Families will drive up (stay in their cars) to a tent and be greeted by a staff member, who will be socially distant.
Staff will conduct a FAFSA appointment similar to how they would in a normal (pre-pandemic) setting. Families will either be provided a tablet or laptop for screen-sharing to complete the FAFSA, which will be projected on a screen so that Get2College staff can monitor the responses.
Families and students will leave the appointment with newly created FSA IDs, (if not already pre-created) and a completed Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and Mississippi Aid Application (MAAPP).

Here’s what else you need to know about planning and hosting a drive-in FAFSA event:

What sparked the FAFSA drive-in idea?

This idea was born out of Get2College’s awareness of high student need and much of what they already knew about Mississippi students in rural areas and beyond, i.e., lack of access to stable internet and/or caring adults with financial aid application knowledge.

“We know how important it is to these students. They need this or they wouldn’t go to college,” says Thompson.

What was the planning process like?

When the idea for the drive-in workshop was shared and discussed, TJ Walker, director of the North MS Get2College Center, volunteered to pilot the drive-in at one of his area schools. Determining the location was easy; Walker had a pre-established relationship with the piloting high school. The staff knew transportation was a major barrier, so it was important to host the event in a central and accessible location.

Walker also cast a wide net to recruit staff members. Due to COVID-19, staff participation for this event was voluntary. Walker also sourced the group of staff volunteers to ask what supplies were needed, to really brainstorm and cross-check that they would have everything they needed to make the event successful.

What types of resources does it take to implement this type of event?

This FAFSA drive-in will take a place in a high school’s open parking lot area to maintain social distancing and other COVID-related precautions to ensure the safety of staff volunteers, students, and families. Below you’ll see a snapshot list of supplies needed to conduct a drive-in. Please note: This is not a finalized list, but rather a place to get started and items to consider. A major consideration is to determine materials needed for an outdoor event in your area, as weather conditions vary during fall across the nation.

Supply List (this list is not an exhaustive list):

Surge protectors
Paper
Tables
Chairs
Folders
Heat/cooling mechanisms
Face masks
Hand Sanitizer
Disinfectant wipes
Gloves

Bigger-Ticket Items:

Mobile Hotspots
Tents
Generators
Printer(s)
Face shields
Laptops (or tablets)

What types of communications and marketing will you use to get the word out about the event?

The key to this work, particularly in rural areas, is relationships. Get2College staff cites the support of city officials, mayors, and school boards, who are helping to get the word out and secure buy-in for participation from families. The rural communities are tight-knit and they know what works.

For other communications during FAFSA season, Get2College uses Signal Vine, postcards, and social media – they even have FAFSA and social media toolkits (free for anyone to use).

What advice would you give to NCAN members who want to hold a FAFSA drive-in?

The first would be tap into partnerships. From our time speaking with Get2College, it was clear partnerships really helped scale their work and efforts. Find the trusted places and people in the communities of the families you are trying to reach.

Also, recognize that completing a FAFSA requires sharing sensitive financial information, so here’s where that trust aspect comes in again. Be sure to use communications and messages that create a sense of security and care.

We are appreciative to have been able to spend time with Get2College to get a sneak peek of this innovative FAFSA completion event and wish them a successful drive-in later this month.

For more coverage of Get2College’s drive-in FAFSA plans, check out this story from the Washington Post.

College Board Offers $1,000 Scholarships for FAFSA Completion, a Chatbot for Support

Posted on October 9, 2020June 23, 2021 by Kelly Mae Ross

The “Complete the FAFSA” step of the College Board Opportunity Scholarships (CBOS) program is designed to reward high school seniors for applying for financial aid. By completing this critical step, students give themselves access to aid to pay for college and a chance to win $1,000.

Students can take these steps to get involved:

If you haven’t already, join the CBOS program.
Go to My Action Plan and select the complete scholarship card.
If you have submitted the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or a state aid form, or are ineligible to complete both the FAFSA and a state aid form, select the “Confirm your qualification” button in the FAFSA scholarship card.

A larger number of “Complete the FAFSA” scholarships will be awarded in the remaining months of 2020, presumably as a way to encourage students to complete the form sooner rather than later:

200 “Complete the FAFSA” scholarships will be awarded at the end of October, November, and December.
100 scholarships will be awarded at the end of January and February.

Some state programs award financial aid on a first-come, first-served basis, so students can lose out on potential aid dollars if they complete the FAFSA later in the application cycle.

Seniors do not have to complete other steps in the CBOS program to qualify for the $1,000 “Complete the FAFSA” scholarship.

The CBOS program guides high school students through six steps of the college planning process. Completing each step earns students a chance to win scholarships of $500 to $2,000 through monthly drawings; doing all six steps also earns them a chance at a $40,000 scholarship. Notably for the NCAN community, College Board has designated at least half of all the scholarships for students whose families earn less than $60,000 per year.

Free FAFSA Assistance Chatbot

Does your student need additional FAFSA help? Well, meet Wyatt. Wyatt is a personal FAFSA assistance chatbot that became available on Oct. 1. Students can sign up here to begin to access Wyatt for free. Wyatt is always available to help and is powered by AI.

According to College Board, Wyatt will help address barriers to FAFSA completion, reply with timely and relevant information developed by experts, and send biweekly nudges about FAFSA completion and the “Complete the FAFSA” CBOS scholarship.

NCAN members can access a Sept. 10 webinar recording to learn more about this step, CBOS, and Wyatt. Note: You must log in to the webinar archives using your NCAN member account.

If you have additional questions about the “Complete the FAFSA” scholarship, check out these FAQs.