By Bill DeBaun, Senior Director of Data and Strategic Initiatives
Reading time: Four minutes
In any given year, there are far more students and families who have questions about, and need assistance with, completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) than there are school counselors or college access advisors available to help
them. That’s especially true this year with the forthcoming Better FAFSA and the many changes it will usher in.
Wyatt, a digital FAFSA advisor from the nonprofit Benefits Data Trust (BDT), has operated since its launch in 2019 and provides college-bound students with free, personalized assistance to complete the FAFSA. Research has shown that personalized assistance improves filing rates, but this assistance has proved difficult to scale.
That’s where Wyatt can help.
“Wyatt guides students through the FAFSA, texting helpful reminders and answering all their questions, day or night,” said Neeta Sonalkar, Director of Higher Education Innovation at BDT. “Wyatt has already helped over 30,000 students unlock nearly $40
million in federal grant aid.”
Wyatt is now available for students to sign up at www.getfafsahelp.org to get early reminders about the FAFSA and help with creating an FSA ID in anticipation of the 2024-25 FAFSA launching sometime this December.
Until the FAFSA launches, Wyatt will primarily field questions on the FSA ID. Once the FAFSA opens, Wyatt will send a notification to students and offer assistance with questions about the full application. Wyatt is free for students to use and available
24/7 to students who sign up.
Privacy is of utmost importance to both Wyatt and BDT. To sign up for Wyatt, students need only to provide a first name and phone number. Students are never asked to share any personal or financial information, and if they do, Wyatt will erase that data
automatically and students will be advised not to share that information. No personally identifiable information except for first name will be captured by Wyatt.
BDT hopes that counselors and educators, especially in areas of the country with high counselor-to-student ratios (read: most of the United States) will refer students to the chatbot to help facilitate FAFSA completion. Educators can also sign up with
Wyatt at getfafsahelp.org for reminders and ready-to-use resources to share with students and families via print, email and social media.
Findings from BDT’s research team, produced in collaboration with the College Board, finds that Wyatt can be very beneficial in
helping students complete the FAFSA. Specifically:
BDT found “that low-income users completed the FAFSA at higher rates — 56% — than non-low-income students, at only 37%.”
76% of students who opted to receive messages from Wyatt responded to at least one text message.
84% of Wyatt users rated their experience as “good” or “excellent.”
Additional research found that “Wyatt-users were majority female, low-income, Hispanic, Black, Asian, and had lower rates of parental education than other students in the College Board Opportunity Scholarship program. This shows that tools like Wyatt
help historically marginalized communities who often have less access to in-person support from college advisors or parents than their wealthier peers.”
Beyond the free version of Wyatt, which will be widely available to all students, BDT is offering the opportunity to test customizations of Wyatt with a few organizations, states, or districts. For example, an organization might want to have a way to
escalate a student’s inquiry to their own call center for additional attention or a state may want include guidance around state specific applications and deadlines.
A national nonprofit organization, BDT’s has of partnered with states health and human services agencies for nearly 20 years, and more recently, higher education institutions, to find likely eligible recipients for federal benefits (e.g., SNAP, WIC, TANF,
Medicaid).The group hopes that Wyatt will expand their ability to conduct “dignified outreach” to students who would be eligible for the Pell Grant if they completed the FAFSA.
Laura Keane, Senior Advisor working with BDT, acknowledges that with a nationwide lift like FAFSA completion, “there’s no magical solution here.” Consequently, states, regions, and the organizations operating within them need to consider where a student-focused
outreach tool like Wyatt can be most valuable. Keane advises “finding the networks that already exist” to reach out to students and sharing, “simple and clear resources that are plug and play, that can be grabbed by educators and community-based organizations,
to be sent out within these existing networks.”
Sonalkar adds, “to reach students, especially students who are within communities that are traditionally low-income, having accessible tools is important that go beyond that nine-to-five timeframe. Having 24/7 tools available is something we’ve received
a lot of feedback about how useful it was to have Wyatt available, especially the natural language processing where it’s designed to provide answers rather than resources, that’s what students said was most useful.”
This academic year will truly be an “all hands on deck” moment for the college access field. Students are and families are going to have questions, and they’re going to need places to turn to get them. Wyatt is a free, “always available” resource that
can connect students with the answers they need to access the financial aid that will make college-going possible.
Need more assistance with the 2024-25 FAFSA? Visit NCAN's Better FAFSA Page.
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