By Jamese Carrell, Member Services Associate, and Bill DeBaun, Director of Data and Evaluation
There has been significant demand for practices that will help districts, schools, and community partners make a virtual pivot to providing FAFSA completion assistance to students and families. Now, staff from Broward County Public Schools (BCPS), an
NCAN member and the sixth-largest school district in the United States, are sharing their successful strategies from the beginning of this FAFSA cycle.
BCPS held a live, virtual FAFSA night every Thursday and one Tuesday in the month of October. The events, which were held through the Microsoft Teams platform, each drew hundreds of attendees.
The approach provides a roadmap for other stakeholders supporting the FAFSA completion process. NCAN will host a webinar with BCPS next month where they will share more about their approach.
Shedly Casseus, a college, career, and life readiness specialist in the district, is the innovator of this approach. The virtual FAFSA nights have been a team effort to get off the ground and have been bringing together a number of community partners
and even local colleges and universities to provide assistance to students and families.
Realizing what was at stake for BCPS students, Casseus cast a vision of dramatically increasing FAFSA completion and brought urgency around helping students to stay committed to their future. She pictured a big FAFSA event, and she has brought excitement
and energy for the work of closing the gap on FAFSA completion. This vision was reinforced by the department’s commitment to make the most of these unprecedented times and be history makers for the students they serve.
“Many of our students don’t feel like they’re a fit to complete the FAFSA,” says Casseus. “It’s up to us to make sure they know it’s for them and possible.”
Through Nov. 13 of this year, seniors in Broward County Public Schools have completed 6.1% fewer FAFSAs than through the same date last year. Compare that Florida overall, which has seen 16.1% fewer completions through Nov. 13, and it is evidence that
Broward County is doing an effective job staunching the FAFSA decline, relatively speaking.
Planning the Events and Recruiting Partners
During the planning phase, Casseus reached out to stakeholders inside and outside of the district and created a volunteer form. Those volunteers ranged from local community college administrators to Florida Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators
(FASFAA) members. Many of the district’s BRACE Advisors, college and career readiness professionals who guide
students through the postsecondary preparation process, were also on hand for these events.
The partners from local colleges have been integral to the success of the FAFSA events, especially in providing advising and helping to manage attendees’ questions in the chat.
The local college access network Bridge2Life offered students a $20 incentive for completing their FAFSA or helping another student to complete FAFSA by Oct. 31.
This “it takes a village” approach is one that many districts across the country can be and are embracing given the sizable need of FAFSA completion supports.
Volunteer trainings were held before each of the FAFSA nights. “We have to train educators,” explains Casseus, and BCPS provides professional development courses on FAFSA completion, including utilizing NCAN’s e-learning platform.
Prior to the first official FAFSA night, Casseus and her team hosted a soft opening FAFSA night with two schools to get a sense of how it would go. She explained that the pre-night had to go well, as buy-in from students and families was on the line,
and word would travel fast if the event wasn’t successful.
Casseus emphasizes that the professionals and staff working the FAFSA night make a huge difference. The event facilitators, which included Casseus and Ms. Anita Robert of Florida Atlantic University, must keep the energy and pace going for two hours while
celebrating each milestone, from linking to the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) to completion of the FAFSA. They must be welcoming, personable, and prepared to answer a lot of questions, quickly and accurately. Patience is key here, too as volunteers
have answered upward of 350 questions in each two-hour FAFSA night. Each session includes up to 15 high schools.
The events themselves take place on Microsoft Teams (although a similar implementation is likely possible on other platforms). Each school has its own virtual room, two staff members, and three or four advisers. There are separate breakout rooms for specific
topics like FSA ID creation and getting one-on-one assistance. Advising is provided in several languages besides English (e.g., Spanish, Haitian Creole, and Portuguese). Attendees are provided a toolkit that debunks myths about FAFSA, answers frequently
asked questions, and offers a FAFSA cheat sheet.
Yvonne Green, another college, career, and life readiness specialist at BCPS, has nothing but praise for the initiative. “This is our first time doing something like that. It’s extraordinary. What’s also extraordinary is the seamless coordination with
the partners and the colleges.”
NCAN members: Visit the webinar archives to watch a Dec. 8 conversation with BCPS to learn even more about the planning and implementation of this promising strategy. Also, keep an eye on this blog as NCAN will share more
details and resources from BCPS.
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