FAFSA fiasco bolsters help for completion necessities

This yr’s rollout of the Free Software for Federal Scholar Help was, by virtually all accounts, a fiasco. What was imagined to be a less complicated kind made the method extra difficult 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 way of. Specialists warned that steep declines in school going may ensue.

However out of the general mess has come an sudden victory for faculty entry advocates: elevated momentum for state laws on FAFSA completion.

Such payments, usually referred to as common FAFSA insurance policies, require college students to finish the federal help kind in an effort to graduate from highschool. The Nationwide School 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 speculation 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 had been in impact this previous educational yr. Current NCAN knowledge, mixed with case research from the State Greater Schooling Govt Officers Affiliation (SHEEO), present that lots of these states had the very 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 seemingly both deliberately opted out with a parental signature or had been routinely opted out beneath particular provisions established for this yr’s snafu. Indiana, which launched a FAFSA completion requirement this previous educational yr, had the bottom share change; the share of highschool graduates who accomplished the FAFSA dropped by simply 1.1 % from final yr.

In a yr when some have frightened that FAFSA completion initiatives would lose steam, specialists say common FAFSA insurance policies are literally extra more likely to achieve help.

“I don’t assume states would have a look at this and say issues didn’t go properly due to common FAFSA. I feel it could are typically the other,” stated Rachel Burns, a senior coverage analyst at SHEEO and co-author of the case examine report. “[States] are going to say, ‘I’m so glad we have now common FAFSA, as a result of now we have now the assets, employees capability, state buy-in and all the pieces to make it possible for they might assist college students by way of all of the challenges.’ For the foreseeable future, that is nonetheless going to be one thing that states are very enthusiastic about.”

A Defend within the Storm

Jim Purcell, government director of the Alabama Fee on Greater Schooling, stated 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 in an effort to obtain their diploma. College students who choose out by having their dad and mom signal a waiver can nonetheless graduate.

Although Alabama’s FAFSA completion price dropped 19.8 share 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 vital an initiative like this [is],” Purcell stated. “In the course of 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 enthusiastic about going that path.”

With graduations principally over and counselors on summer season trip, it will likely be tough for a lot of states to spice up FAFSA completion charges increased than they had 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 courses.

“We have to make it possible for there’s somebody serving to these college students full a FAFSA,” he stated. “It doesn’t occur simply in a cavalier approach; there’s an effort that’s required to verify 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 share level, to 44.7 %.

“Regardless of among the unprecedented challenges that we encountered … this coverage was actually a key lever right here in Indiana,” he stated. “We’re actually enthusiastic about what our outcomes have been for yr one in all this coverage shift and actually sit up for its continued affect throughout the state.”

Harrell stated it took some time to collect help for the invoice, however one of many parts 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 dad and mom 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 hardly ever, if ever, forestall a pupil from getting a highschool diploma. As a substitute of framing it as a commencement requirement, Harrell stated, 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 passionate about its prospects.

Ritchie Morrow, monetary help officer of the Nebraska Coordinating Fee for Postsecondary Schooling, stated 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 may lose help if the platform experiences extra delays and technical glitches this yr.

“We aren’t going to make any modifications,” he stated. “No one in coverage has reached out to us on this. However we have now heard from among the highschool people, notably 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 likely to keep away from any program that provides a layer of presidency paperwork, he stated, the coverage may come beneath assault if completion charges don’t improve as a lot as lobbyists have prompt they might.

“Our Legislature will likely be in session within the springtime, and if this can be a commencement requirement and there are issues with getting FAFSA filed, there’s going to be a whole lot of telephone 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 help, 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, stated she hopes short-term rollbacks aren’t essentially an indication of doom for FAFSA completion necessities long run.

“It was completely the correct selection 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 actually shouldn’t be penalized for not finishing the shape,” she wrote in an e mail. “Nonetheless, whereas important this yr, states shouldn’t completely drop FAFSA commencement necessities or cease utilizing the FAFSA to allocate state help. These are finest 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 stated it was not a direct response to this yr’s FAFSA fiasco; somewhat, this system had turn into burdensome and promoted college-going over extra vocational paths, they stated. Meyer famous that though the reversal brought about her to take a “slight pause,” she usually trusts that traditionally bipartisan help for such payments will proceed.

In the long run, Meyer believes this yr’s circumstances solely underscore why states ought to increase FAFSA mandates and helps somewhat than roll them again.

“Finally I feel FAFSA completion mandates get handed as a result of states understand it ensures college students obtain the federal monetary help they’re eligible for, and sometimes that saves the state cash of their scholarship and grant applications,” she stated. “In that sense, I anticipate we’ll see states proceed to undertake them within the years to return.”