This yr’s rollout of the Free Software for Federal Scholar Assist was, by virtually all accounts, a fiasco. What was alleged to be an easier kind made the method extra sophisticated for a lot of. The brand new kind was riddled with technical glitches and calculation errors, and delays left college students and schools in limbo, ready for the need-based scholarship awards to return by means of. Specialists warned that steep declines in faculty going might ensue.
However out of the general mess has come an surprising victory for school entry advocates: elevated momentum for state laws on FAFSA completion.
Such payments, usually often known as common FAFSA insurance policies, require college students to finish the federal assist kind with a view to graduate from highschool. The Nationwide Faculty Attainment Community (NCAN) and native nonprofits throughout the nation have been pushing state lawmakers to mandate FAFSA completion for greater than a decade, on the idea that it encourages extra college students to enroll and attain a postsecondary credential.
As of this spring, 15 states had handed some sort of common FAFSA coverage; eight have been in impact this previous educational yr. Current NCAN information, mixed with case research from the State Greater Schooling Govt Officers Affiliation (SHEEO), present that lots of these states had the best completion charges—and lowest year-over-year dips—regardless of this yr’s bungled rollout.
Illinois and Texas, two of the earliest states to implement such a requirement, ranked third and fifth for completion charges as of June 21, at 54.7 % and 53.1 %, respectively. College students who didn’t full the FAFSA probably both deliberately opted out with a parental signature or have been routinely opted out underneath particular provisions established for this yr’s snafu. Indiana, which launched a FAFSA completion requirement this previous educational yr, had the bottom proportion change; the share of highschool graduates who accomplished the FAFSA dropped by simply 1.1 % from final yr.
In a yr when some have fearful that FAFSA completion initiatives would lose steam, specialists say common FAFSA insurance policies are literally extra more likely to acquire help.
“I don’t assume states would take a look at this and say issues didn’t go effectively due to common FAFSA. I believe it might are usually the alternative,” mentioned Rachel Burns, a senior coverage analyst at SHEEO and co-author of the case research report. “[States] are going to say, ‘I’m so glad we’ve got common FAFSA, as a result of now we’ve got the assets, workers capability, state buy-in and every part to make it possible for they may assist college students by means of all of the challenges.’ For the foreseeable future, that is nonetheless going to be one thing that states are very occupied with.”
A Protect within the Storm
Jim Purcell, government director of the Alabama Fee on Greater Schooling, mentioned that amid this yr’s “horrific rollout,” his state’s long-running common FAFSA program—and the tradition of belief and collaboration it’s created—helped preserve completion numbers comparatively excessive. The state’s FAFSA requirement, which has been in place for the reason that 2021–22 educational yr, requires seniors graduating from a public highschool to fill out the FAFSA with a view to obtain their diploma. College students who choose out by having their mother and father signal a waiver can nonetheless graduate.
Although Alabama’s FAFSA completion price dropped 19.8 proportion factors from final yr, the state nonetheless ranked sixteenth within the nation, with an above-average price of 45.8 %.
“The establishments which might be seeing decrease numbers are understanding how essential an initiative like this [is],” Purcell mentioned. “Throughout the calamities of it, I’ve been out speaking to many states. I’ve spoken at conferences about our efforts in Alabama, and there are some states which might be occupied with going that path.”
With graduations largely over and counselors on summer time trip, it is going to be troublesome for a lot of states to spice up FAFSA completion charges larger than they have been on the final day of highschool. However Purcell famous that Alabama’s common FAFSA program—and the staffing and assets that include it—permit the fee to proceed outreach proper up till the primary day of faculty lessons.
“We have to make it possible for there’s somebody serving to these college students full a FAFSA,” he mentioned. “It doesn’t occur simply in a cavalier approach; there’s an effort that’s required to ensure your numbers are up.”
In Indiana, Greg Harrell, director of laws and program implementation for the state Fee for Greater Schooling, credited the brand new common FAFSA program with minimizing the hit to the Hoosier state’s completion price, which declined by simply over one proportion level, to 44.7 %.
“Regardless of a few of the unprecedented challenges that we encountered … this coverage was actually a key lever right here in Indiana,” he mentioned. “We’re actually enthusiastic about what our outcomes have been for yr one in all this coverage shift and actually stay up for its continued influence throughout the state.”
Harrell mentioned it took some time to collect help for the invoice, however one of many elements that helped get it throughout the end line was the built-in off-ramp for college students.
In Indiana, and almost all states the place a common FAFSA coverage is in place, college students have ample alternative to choose out. They will both get written permission from their mother and father or they’re routinely dropped after a sure date or a set variety of contact makes an attempt from a counselor. That implies that common FAFSA insurance policies not often, if ever, stop a pupil from getting a highschool diploma. As a substitute of framing it as a commencement requirement, Harrell mentioned, consider it as a default choice.
However Is It Robust Sufficient to Final?
Officers in some states which might be simply rolling out a completion requirement appear much less obsessed with its prospects.
Ritchie Morrow, monetary assist officer of the Nebraska Coordinating Fee for Postsecondary Schooling, mentioned his company, together with the native nonprofit EducationQuest, has been making an attempt to get a FAFSA requirement in place for years. A invoice was lastly handed a yr in the past and can go into impact this fall for the graduating class of 2025.
Nonetheless, he worries that this system might lose help if the platform experiences extra delays and technical glitches this yr.
“We’re not going to make any adjustments,” he mentioned. “No one in coverage has reached out to us on this. However we’ve got heard from a few of the highschool of us, significantly the advisors, asking, ‘What if the 2025–26 FAFSA is delayed and there are issues with it like there have been with the 2024–25?’”
In a conservative state the place lawmakers are inclined to keep away from any program that provides a layer of presidency forms, he mentioned, the coverage might come underneath assault if completion charges don’t improve as a lot as lobbyists have recommended they’d.
“Our Legislature will likely be in session within the springtime, and if it is a commencement requirement and there are issues with getting FAFSA filed, there’s going to be loads of cellphone calls to our legislators,” Morrow added.
He has trigger for concern. In West Virginia, which historically required college students to finish FAFSA to entry state assist, Republican governor Jim Justice declared a state of emergency amid the chaos of the brand new FAFSA rollout and suspended the coverage for the yr.
However Katherine Meyer, a fellow for the Brown Heart on Schooling Coverage on the Brookings Institute, mentioned she hopes non permanent rollbacks aren’t essentially an indication of doom for FAFSA completion necessities long run.
“It was completely the proper alternative for states like West Virginia to be lenient with FAFSA commencement necessities this yr—it’s not college students’ fault that the FAFSA wasn’t purposeful for many of their senior yr, and so they definitely shouldn’t be penalized for not finishing the shape,” she wrote in an electronic mail. “Nonetheless, whereas important this yr, states shouldn’t completely drop FAFSA commencement necessities or cease utilizing the FAFSA to allocate state assist. These are greatest practices that in a typical yr improve FAFSA submitting.”
Louisiana, which was the primary state to implement a common FAFSA coverage, in 2018, additionally raised considerations by completely rolling again its requirement laws this spring. State lawmakers mentioned it was not a direct response to this yr’s FAFSA fiasco; somewhat, this system had turn out to be burdensome and promoted college-going over extra vocational paths, they mentioned. Meyer famous that though the reversal prompted her to take a “slight pause,” she typically trusts that traditionally bipartisan help for such payments will proceed.
Ultimately, Meyer believes this yr’s circumstances solely underscore why states ought to develop FAFSA mandates and helps somewhat than roll them again.
“Finally I believe FAFSA completion mandates get handed as a result of states notice it ensures college students obtain the federal monetary assist they’re eligible for, and infrequently that saves the state cash of their scholarship and grant packages,” she mentioned. “In that sense, I anticipate we’ll see states proceed to undertake them within the years to return.”
