NCAN's Senior Director of Data and Strategic Initiatives, Bill DeBaun, testified on NCAN's behalf in his home state. Some excerpts from his testimony appear below. His testimony is
also available in full text form here. A video version is also available here (NCAN's testimony begins around the 24:00 mark).
Students face all kinds of obstacles to accessing, persisting at, and completing postsecondary pathways, but survey after survey, as well as NCAN members’ own experiences, show that affordability is one of the largest hurdles to surmount. I have often
described the FAFSA as the key that unlocks the door to the grants, loans, and other sources of financial aid that make postsecondary education more affordable and, subsequently, accessible. Access to the Pell Grant, the cornerstone of federal financial
aid, subsidized and unsubsidized federal loans, Federal Work-Study, and more are contingent on completion of the FAFSA.
In recent years New Jersey has performed well in terms of FAFSA completion. NCAN tracks high school seniors’ FAFSA completions using our interactive FAFSA Tracker. Through May 26, New Jersey’s class of 2023 ranks 11th nationally by percent of high school
seniors completing a FAFSA at 55.8%. This is above the national completion rate of 50.9%. New Jersey’s class of 2022 through last September had a 64.1% completion rate, good for 10th nationally and above the national rate of 57.7%.
Even with this strong FAFSA completion performance, there is still room for improvement and room for both students, communities, and the state to benefit. For example, in New Jersey’s high school class of 2022, eligible seniors who did not complete the
FAFSA could have received an additional $92 million in federal Pell Grants, in addition to any other federal or state aid for which they would have been eligible. Nationally, Pell Grant-eligible seniors from the class of 2022 left $3.58 billion in
Pell Grants on the table by not completing the FAFSA.
A1181 now asks New Jersey’s legislature to consider its own universal FAFSA effort. I have been invited today to testify to share insights about FAFSA completion outcomes in other universal FAFSA states. These insights come from NCAN’s FAFSA Tracker,
a study of the limited body of research on these policies’ effects on students’ postsecondary outcomes, and our significant discussions with state-level agencies and organizations who have worked to implement these policies or have their states adopt
them.
COVID-19 complications aside, measuring FAFSA completion occurs over a relatively short timeframe, examining students’ postsecondary outcomes takes place in a much longer window. For example, the high school seniors who first experienced Texas and Alabama’s
universal FAFSA policy just finished their first postsecondary academic year. There’s a lag on when researchers and policymakers get access to data on their enrollment outcomes.
Three academic papers have examined universal FAFSA policies and their effects on postsecondary outcomes:
Dr. Ellie Bruecker’s “An Exploration of Financial Aid Application Patterns and College Access: Three Studies Using High School-Level FAFSA Data” examines high school-level increases in college enrollment based on a school’s pre-implementation level of
FAFSA completion. Dr. Bruecker finds in part, “a small, but positive increase in college enrollment among schools that experienced the greatest increase in FAFSA completion after the implementation of a mandatory FAFSA policy. This effect is not significantly
distinguishable from changes in college-going among schools in the middle two quartiles of FAFSA completion, but it is significantly different from the reference group, schools that experienced the smallest change in FAFSA completion…[T]he reference
group experienced a decrease in the college enrollment rate after the implementation of mandatory FAFSA. Thus, while the effect size for Group 1 is 2.9 percentage points, the average college-going rate for this group actually increased by only 0.8
percentage points. Increasing college enrollment to any degree is a positive outcome and should not be discounted. But it is also important that the effectiveness of the policy not be overstated.”
Dr. Jenni Putz’s “Making FAFSA Mandatory: An Evaluation of Louisiana’s Financial Aid Submission Policy on College Enrollment and Pell Grant Awards” finds “suggestive evidence that students may have substituted away from public two-year institutions towards
four-year institutions. Specifically, I find marginally significant effects on enrollment for Black students at large, public four-year universities.”
Dr. Christa Deneault’s “College Enrollment and Mandatory FAFSA Applications: Evidence from Louisiana” finds in part “Back of the envelope estimates imply approximately a one-to-two percentage point increase in on-time college enrollment across all schools
in my sample. Instrumental variables estimation indicates that increasing FAFSA completion rates 10 percentage points increases college enrollment rates by three percentage points. There is suggestive evidence the treatment effects were larger and
more concentrated among schools with a larger percentage of free and reduced-price lunch students, and that applications for merit-based scholarships also increased. I find no evidence that high school graduation rates suffered from the additional
requirement."
Although researchers, advocates, and policymakers alike would surely like more empirical evidence on these universal FAFSA policies’ effects on students’ postsecondary outcomes, it is clear that these policies do increase FAFSA completion rates in the
states where they are implemented and that they raise the profile of a key leading indicator for college enrollment for students, families, and practitioners alike. I hope that these two impacts are contributing and will continue to contribute to
the aims of improving postsecondary outcomes, especially for traditionally underrepresented student groups, and creating more equitable attainment rates.
These aims are best served in a policy and practice environment that says “yes, and” to student, family, and practitioner supports. In my estimation, universal FAFSA alone is unlikely to be enough on its own to significantly move the needle on states’
postsecondary attainment goals, but it can be an important piece of the puzzle. Students and families also need, for example, early awareness about college and career options that dispels myths and fills in gaps in college knowledge. They need information
about available federal and state financial aid. They need information about the difference between sticker and net price of college and how to interpret award letters to understand what they will really have to pay out of pocket. They need college
application support, not just the nuts and bolts but also encouraging and edifying messaging that, yes, college can be for them, even if they would be the first in their family to go. They need information about the variety of pathways available
to them; “college” doesn’t have to mean a four-year residential experience. It can also mean getting a valuable associate degree or high-value credential for an in-demand career. Financial aid can help to offset all of these pathways’ costs, but students
need to know that that financial aid exists. Completing the FAFSA, and other college and career readiness programming and resources, provides that knowledge. Beyond all of this, students who commit to a postsecondary pathway often need support to
make sure they arrive on-campus ready to succeed. Students also need to arrive on campuses committed to their success where academic, financial, and other supports are available to see students not just to a postsecondary pathway but mostimportantly
through one to attainment.
NCAN has been a strong proponent of universal FAFSA with supports. The following are our recommendations to states considering these policies:
Require FAFSA completion for high school graduation through legislative or other policy vehicles.
Include a robust opt-out system for students who are unable to access parental financial information, have undocumented parents, or whose parents allow them to abstain.
Provide (at minimum) one full FAFSA cycle from the bill passing, or the item being administratively added to a list of requirements before the actual requirement takes effect.
Make the change administratively, if high school graduation requirements do not live in statute.
If not already in place, build and provide robust training and support through school counselors and/or college access advisers to ensure students are helped through the process.
Provide regular data-sharing on completion to high schools and community-based organizations to allow for better-targeted FAFSA completion efforts.
About a dozen states have implemented or passed universal FAFSA policies. Have questions, concerns, or want to learn more? Reach out Catherine Brown, Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy, at brownc@ncan.org.
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