Increasing FAFSA Completion: Comparisons of Projects Across SREB States
Dr. Rusty Mulholland, Vice President, Academic Affairs, The
Kansas Board of Regents
Former President and Executive Director, South Carolina
Commission on Higher Education
Jessie Lynn Nichols, Ph.D. Student, Auburn University
Louisiana, Alabama, and Texas, all SREB members, have mandatory FAFSA completion requirements. This article compares each state’s approach and results of implementation, shares the potential impact of the new FAFSA form , and makes recommendations for states in the early stages of considering the addition of a FAFSA completion initiative.
In recent years, many states have discussed whether or not high school seniors should be required to complete and submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in order to graduate. The primary purpose for requiring the completion and submission of the FAFSA has been to help students determine their Pell eligibility in hopes of increasing financial aid opportunities and postsecondary degree attainments. Advocates for the graduation requirement report that FAFSA completion is strongly associated with positive outcomes, such as 92% of seniors who complete FAFSA enroll in a postsecondary institution directly after graduation (National College Attainment Network, 2022a) and the earning of a postsecondary degree can be linked to higher incomes, better health, and more civic engagement (Lumina Foundation, 2023). Several members of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) along with other states have implemented FAFSA requirements in some capacity, while others continue to seek options to achieve similar goals.
Presently, thirteen states require high school seniors to complete the FAFSA to meet graduation requirements: Louisiana (first year was Class of 2018); Illinois (first year was Class of 2021); Alabama, Colorado, and Texas (first year was Class of 2022); California, New Hampshire and Connecticut (first year is Class of 2024); Indiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and New Jersey (first year is Class of 2025); Kansas (first year is Class of 2028) (Randolph, 2024). Of these states, only four are SREB members with Louisiana, Alabama, and Texas being among the pioneer states to implement the FAFSA completion requirement and Oklahoma on the brink of implementation.
While each state that incorporated the FAFSA into high school
graduation requirement has approached the policy’s implementation
differently, all of them have seen significant improvements in
their FAFSA completion rates. One common denominator for the
FAFSA completion states is they all have a data collection system
for determining the participation rate of students by high
school. They also share completion rates on a website with high
school counselors, other district staff and the public so they
can effectively assist student applicants in completing and
submitting the FAFSA form.
Initiatives and Strategies for Improvement in FAFSA Completion
Rates Among SREB States
The SREB FAFSA pioneer states have experienced notable improvements among their student completion rates upon implementation with slight differences in how they implemented the program. All concentrate on helping more students discover untapped financial aid to support them in their academic endeavors to achieve a degree at the postsecondary level.
Louisiana
Louisiana was the first state to pass and implement the mandatory
FAFSA completion for all graduating high school seniors in the
2017-2018 school year. Louisiana’s Department of Education (LDOE)
recognized that high school students who wanted to attend college
needed guidance in completing the FAFSA. To establish a concerted
effort, LDOE and Louisiana’s Board of Elementary and Secondary
Education (LBESE) gained insight from stakeholders across the
state before approving a plan centered around postsecondary
preparation for high school students, resulting in the Financial
Aid Access Policy, which states:
In order to increase access to state and federal financial aid,
their seniors must do one of the following: complete the Taylor
Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS) application [state
merit-based scholarship] or the FAFSA, declare a hardship through
a waiver, or submit a parental opt-out waiver to their local
school system. (Florida College Access Network, 2023, para.
5)
Prior to implementing the FAFSA completion policy, Louisiana had
a large percentage of high school seniors to complete the FAFSA
and ranked 12th among states. The FAFSA completion requirement
for all graduating high school seniors propelled Louisiana’s
ranking from 12th to 2nd place after the first year of
implementation. Figure 1 (National College Attainment Network,
2022b) shows Louisiana’s improved ranking along with significant
rank changes to Alabama (34th to 9th), Illinois (10th to 4th),
and Texas(23rd to 5th).
Figure 1
States’ FAFSA Completion Rank and % of Seniors Completing a FAFSA
in Year Before and Implementation Year of Universal FAFSA
Louisiana’s early success was primarily due to the state already
having a robust state sponsored student aid program, which
required a completed FAFSA as a component of the student’s
application. Louisiana FAFSA completion graduation requirement
provided exceptions to the graduation requirement with a means of
opting out via waiver by parent(s) or school district (Crain,
2021). The state has also had a well-established longitudinal
data system so student information could be readily collected and
analyzed to make data informed decisions to achieve these types
of goals. Another important element to the success of this
initiative was the partnership among state agencies, college and
universities, and various education advocacy groups who help
students navigate their financial aid options.
To promote FAFSA completion, the Louisiana Office of Student
Financial Aid (LOSFA) launched a FAFSA website, entitled LOSFA’s
Compete to Complete FAFSA Challenge (https://mylosfa.la.gov/schools/field-outreach-services/compete-to-complete/),
to display current school rankings in FAFSA completions across
the state, showcasing the top 15 districts. The data system
provides a count of applications needed to meet the FAFSA
completion goal for the state. Louisiana also established a
centralized portal, called the LOSFA Student Hub, to streamline
the FAFSA application process. Additionally, Louisiana’s
financial aid policy incorporated the creation of specific
state-funded support groups, such as the Louisiana Counselor
Assistance Center and the Financial Aid Working Group, to ensure
schools successfully implemented the new financial aid
policy.
Alabama
Alabama’s educational leaders also recognized a vast majority of
their students were still not completing the FAFSA form and
therefore not identifying sources of funding to attend college.
In 2021, The Alabama’s State Board of Education (ALSDE) approved
the completion and submission of FAFSA as part of the state’s
graduation requirements. Similar to Louisiana, Alabama’s FAFSA
completion graduation requirement provided exceptions to the
graduation requirement (Crain, 2021).
Compared to other state sponsored financial aid programs, Alabama
appropriates a smaller percentage of its state higher education
appropriation for financial aid than any other SREB state
according to the State Higher Education Finance (SHEF) Report as
shown in Figure 2 (SHEF Report, 2022). The state and local higher
education funding allocated 3.2% for student financial aid in
comparison to the United States’ average of 10.8%. Thus, the
decision to add the graduation requirement significantly improved
student access to financial aid for college, especially for
low-income students.
Figure 2
Percentage of State and Local Higher Education Funding Used for
Student Financial Aid by State, FY 2022
After the first year of implementation, Alabama’s FASFA completion graduation requirement yielded a dramatic improvement in the number of FAFSA completions from the prior year, moving its rank among states from 34th to 9th in 2022 ( see Figure 1). Alabama also showed (see Figure 3) significant improvement from the prior year in all types of schools and communities, ranking 1st in improvement in FAFSA completion at low income, high income, high minority, low minority, suburb, town and rural schools as well as ranking 2nd in improvement in city schools.
After the first year of implementation, Alabama’s FASFA completion graduation requirement yielded a dramatic improvement in the number of FAFSA completions from the prior year, moving its rank among states from 34th to 9th in 2022 ( see Figure 1). Alabama also showed (see Figure 3) significant improvement from the prior year in all types of schools and communities, ranking 1st in improvement in FAFSA completion at low income, high income, high minority, low minority, suburb, town and rural schools as well as ranking 2nd in improvement in city schools.
Figure 3
Percentage Change in FAFSA Completion Year-Over-Year by Selected
Characteristics through 5/27/22 in AL
Figure 5
