What Works Archives - Form Your Future

10 Key Tips and Tools for Helping Students Understand Financial Aid

Posted on November 4, 2018November 6, 2018 by Ryan

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:

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.
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.
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.
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).
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)!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.

Lessons From Four States That Are Doing It Well

Posted on October 28, 2018November 8, 2018 by Ryan

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 four states and analyzed each organization’s online resources to understand how the states promote equitable FAFSA completion. Eleven common themes emerged:

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

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

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.

9 Things to Know About the FAFSA Mobile App

Posted on October 18, 2018November 8, 2018 by Ryan

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:

You can download the myStudentAid app from either the Android or Apple app store.
Only the 2019-20 FAFSA is available on the app.
The app does have IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) functionality for those who meet the criteria. The DRT is functional but not formatted for mobile use.
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.
Students and parents need an FSA ID to use the app.
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.
The FAFSA.gov website is now mobile-optimized and mirrors the look, feel, and functionality of the app.
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.
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.

Get2College Launches First U-HAFTA FAFSA® Challenge in Mississippi

Posted on October 5, 2018November 8, 2018 by Ryan

NCAN member Woodward Hines Education Foundation’s Get2College program knows that moving the needle on FAFSA completion isn’t easy. It takes creativity, partnerships, and a belief that “First U-HAFTA FAFSA®” if you want to pursue postsecondary education.

Over the past several years, Get2College has worked to increase FAFSA completion in Mississippi, one of the nation’s poorest states. Get2College offers free one-on-one FAFSA support for students and families in each of its three centers and at high schools across the state. Get2College even offers virtual FAFSA support for students who are unable to visit a center or attend an in-school FAFSA completion event.

“It wasn’t before long that we realized that we had reached maximum capacity in our ability to provide one-on-one FAFSA completion assistance,” said Kierstan Dufour, Get2College assistant director and project manager. “We soon realized that we couldn’t go at it alone, and we shouldn’t. Partnerships have become a hallmark of the Get2College strategy of increasing FAFSA completion in Mississippi.”

Get2College began hosting regular FAFSA volunteer training sessions for college and university staff and any other interested volunteers. The training was designed to prepare the volunteers to assist with one-on-one FAFSA completion. The topics discussed included how to avoid common FAFSA errors by helping students understand terms such as “dependency status” and “household size” as well as how to help students determine whose income information to use on the FAFSA. The training also provided guidance on how volunteers can incorporate college timeline information and general financial aid knowledge throughout a one-on-one FAFSA appointment.

And these training sessions worked. In a matter of months, Get2College had a network of people, including all of Mississippi’s community colleges, ready to participate in FAFSA completion events in high schools statewide.

Mississippi has seen an increase in FAFSA completion over the past several years. Right now, Mississippi is No. 4 in the nation for FAFSA completion among 2018 high school graduates, according to FCAN’s FAFSA completion dashboard. This may, at least in part, be a result of an increased number of FAFSA completion partnerships between high schools, community colleges, universities, and community organizations.

This year, Get2College is expanding its efforts through the launch of the First U-HAFTA FAFSA® Challenge for financial aid administrators in Mississippi. As a part of the challenge, participating college or university financial aid administrators are asked to adopt a high school that had a FAFSA completion rate of less than 50 percent, as of March 31, 2018. March 31 is a benchmark date for Get2College efforts, as it is the priority deadline for the MS HELP grant, a state grant that covers tuition and fees at a public institution in Mississippi for low-income students. Challenge participants who top each of the following three categories will receive a $1,000 prize:

Overall highest % FAFSA completion
Overall highest % increase
Most innovative strategy for creating a college-going culture and increasing FAFSA completion

“We know that FAFSA completion is a good predictor of a student’s likelihood to go to college,” said Ann Hendrick, director of the Get2College program, who spent almost twenty years working in financial aid. “We feel that expanding our network of FAFSA champions to include financial aid administrators is a great next step in increasing FAFSA completion and ultimately changing the lives of students in Mississippi.”

FAFSA completion in Utah increases for second year in a row

Posted on September 21, 2018November 8, 2018 by Ryan

About 35.5% of Utah high school seniors completed the 2018-2019 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) from October 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018, reflecting a 0.9% increase over the previous year, according to the Form Your Future FAFSA Tracker.

Utah has made excellent progress in improving FAFSA completion for high school seniors over the past several years, including a stunning 39% increase in FAFSA completion for the 2017-2018 FAFSA. While Utah has made substantial progress in helping students complete the FAFSA, Utah remains 51st in the nation (including the District of Columbia) for FAFSA completion.

The FAFSA directly impacts college affordability and access for students. Nationally, 90% of high school seniors who complete the FAFSA attend college directly after high school, compared to 55% of non-completers. The FAFSA is the only way that Utah students can access all federal, state, and institutional aid in the form of grants, work-study, and federal student loans.

The Utah System of Higher Education is committed to removing financial barriers to higher education by promoting FAFSA completion throughout the state with several exciting updates.

The 2018-2019 FAFSA Completion Challenge

The Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority (UHEAA) outreach team, which operates its outreach efforts under StepUp to Higher Education, was awarded a $40,000 grant by the National College Access Network to improve FAFSA completion by at least 5% for high school seniors in West Valley City. In partnership with Granite School District and other community partners, UHEAA’s strategy to increase FAFSA completion rates has three key focuses:

Perform targeted outreach
Strengthen existing cross-sectoral partnerships
Increase access and use of FAFSA completion data

While the grant strategies focus on Granite School District schools, USHE is encouraging the state to increase FAFSA completion statewide by 5% to increase completion rates to 40% of high school seniors.

Other resources to promote FAFSA completion

StepUp houses the FAFSA completion data from Federal Student Aid. In coordination with K12 and college access partners throughout the state, StepUp provides secure student-level data to inform counselors and college access personnel which students have completed the FAFSA and which students have been selected for verification.

In addition to providing student-level data, StepUp will host over 115 FAFSA completion events throughout the state to help high school seniors complete the 2019-2020 FAFSA. These open houses allow students and parents to receive expert help with the FAFSA to complete it quickly and accurately, as well gives students as an opportunity to receive one of six $500 scholarships offered by StepUp for students who complete their FAFSA.

StepUp also produces annual content updates to assist with FAFSA completion, including the 2019-2020 FAFSA DIY Kit, a resource to help counselors and educators promote FAFSA completion and host their own FAFSA completion open house and a FAFSA Walkthrough Video to help students and parents complete the FAFSA on their own time.

For the 2019-2020 FAFSA, Federal Student Aid has updated the look and feel of the FAFSA to make for a better user experience across all devices (computers, tablets, and mobile phones). In addition to making the FAFSA accessible on a wide variety of devices, Federal Student Aid has released the myStudentAid mobile app.

For additional questions about FAFSA completion efforts throughout the state, please contact UHEAA Community Outreach Specialist Jacob Newman Jacob Newman at jnewman@utahsbr.edu or at 801-366-8487.