By Ann Hendrick, Brandi Lyndall, Kierstan Dufour, Get2College
No one would have predicted that 2020 would be anything but normal for high school and college students. Yet, here we are, responding to a pandemic and having to rethink the ways that we can support students during this time and beyond.
What we have discovered is quite unexpected. Some of the most effective communication strategies would be going old-school, while rapidly moving with technology to ensure the educational dreams of students remain a reality.
Listening, testing, and, learning, Get2College is looking for evidence-based strategies as we move forward into an uncertain landscape.
Get2College, a program of the Woodward Hines Education Foundation, helps students in Mississippi plan and pay for college. In 2019, over 30,000 students were served in outreach
or visited one of our centers, and 695 teachers and educators participated in our professional development programs. Since 2006, Get2College has provided FAFSA completion assistance across the state.
Mississippi’s FAFSA completion efforts have been effective, with Mississippi ranking third in the country for the highest percentage of seniors completing the FAFSA by August 2019. At the beginning of March 2020, we were on track for high FAFSA completion.
However with schools closing, by the end of May, there was an 8.1% overall decline. Even more startling, there was the 10.5% decline (as of May 31, 2020) among students in high-poverty schools from the prior year.
Phase 1: Work-Ready at Home – Going Virtual
Two days after school closure, Get2College shifted our FAFSA completion support from in-school events and one-on-one appointments to video chat or phone. We hosted numerous live social media events to inform and educate families.
The basic infrastructure for this quick transition was already in place – laptops with cameras and mics, licensed Zoom accounts, and a strong social media presence. We shared informational graphics with students, their families, and all Get2College partners.
Other ways we enhanced our FAFSA support include:
Partnering with our 15 community colleges to support FAFSA renewals by providing YouTube walkthrough guidance for current students.
Partnering with the Mississippi Office of Student Financial Aid to help in answering hundreds of students’ questions and providing virtual FAFSA assistance.
Connecting with college admissions recruiters to provide webinars and Zoom breakout rooms so seniors and their parents could talk to college representatives and get answers to their pressing questions.
Phase 2: Going 'Old School'
Typically, in a crisis, you use technology to speed the delivery of information and optimize alerts and notifications to individuals you need to reach. That was certainly where we started. However, after reaching out to high school counselors, we heard
what we already knew: once students went home, more often than not, they had no broadband, no Wi-Fi, and only cell phones without data.
Our FAFSA assistance strategy had been an in-person delivery system that often began with nudges from counselors or teachers with assistance from Get2College and the local community college partners. These supports were no longer an option!
Snail mail: With limited or no internet access at home, we relied on the postal service for information delivery. Get2College obtained names and mailing addresses from ACT of many Mississippi seniors. We designed and mailed postcards to students reminding them to complete their FAFSA by March 31, an important Mississippi deadline. As a result of the postcard mailing campaign, Mississippi saw an increase of 3.8% before the deadline.
Phone calls: Our Get2College team started a phone campaign to reach seniors who had visited a Get2College center or event. We wanted to make sure they had completed the FAFSA and if not, help them to do so. Frequently, students who had already
completed their FAFSA had other questions about college, financial aid, and the verification process.
Printing fliers: Using federal FAFSA completion data to identify select high schools with low completion rates, we printed a FAFSA completion reminder to be handed to seniors when they picked up their caps and gowns. From this small effort, we
had several students from these high schools contact our offices for FAFSA completion assistance.
Phase 3: Listen, Test, and Learn
Get2College is better positioned to provide FAFSA completion assistance online but unfortunately, that only benefits those families with reliable internet access and technology. Roughly half (50.1%) of Mississippi schools are classified as rural, and
87% of Mississippi public high schools are classified as being either low-income or high-poverty. This means we may be unable to provide virtual college planning and FAFSA completion assistance for a large number of Mississippi students.
Our key advice is to listen, test, and learn. With the Mississippi Department of Education releasing its plan for reopening schools, it is clear that technology will be a vital part of the educational delivery system. Yet we know that education is participatory
and social and not simply the transmission of content. This will require Get2College to balance old-school communication and technology to test new delivery methods as we continue to move Mississippi students’ educational dreams forward.
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