Ever since the National College Attainment Network (NCAN) attended Idaho's statewide FAFSA Summit in March
2023, these statewide convenings have been firmly on NCAN's radar as a key tool for driving Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion. Statewide FAFSA summits are gaining popularity nationwide as states look for ways to connect stakeholders
and widen the postsecondary pipeline. NCAN interviewed college access and financial aid leaders from Kentucky, North Carolina, Idaho, and Arizona about their experiences organizing a FAFSA summit. We compiled their responses, which are full of tips
and tricks, funding ideas, and challenges to be aware of, to help other states host successful FAFSA summits.
Note: These responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Why does your state host a statewide FAFSA summit? Was there an event or initiative that prompted it?
Kentucky: “Given the upcoming changes to the FAFSA, we at KHEAA feel it’s important to get key players involved with FAFSA completion across the state together to share ideas, FAFSA completion strategies, and to develop unified messaging
to support FAFSA completion across the state.”
North Carolina: “Before the COVID-19 pandemic, North Carolina would host financial aid trainings each summer, and they wanted to start them up again. They also chose to call their summit a financial aid summit instead of a FAFSA summit
to be inclusive of those who cannot file a FAFSA.”
Idaho: ‘Being new to my position and having always been a believer in the connection between FAFSA and college enrollment, I knew I wanted to start some sort of statewide conversation about FAFSA completion in Idaho. Idaho does not have
an agency overseeing financial aid, nor do we have a state financial aid application. The lack of state level resources and training is really what prompted the idea for a FAFSA Summit. The rollout of the new “Better FAFSA” also helped create a need
for statewide conversation.’
Arizona: “Arizona came across an article from NCAN detailing a FAFSA Summit held by the state of Idaho. Impressed by this initiative, we were inspired to host a similar gathering in Arizona, bringing together essential stakeholders from
across the state who are dedicated to elevating Arizona's FAFSA completion rate.”
What did/do you hope to accomplish through a statewide FAFSA summit?
Kentucky: “We hope that Kentucky FAFSA Summit participants will walk away with a better understanding of how we can work together to support our students throughout the state with FAFSA completion. We are excited to have a diverse group
of college access professionals share their perspectives on messaging, overcoming challenges, and best practices to support FAFSA completion campaigns. To help carry out this goal, we are building in ample time in the agenda for group discussion to
discuss the largest barriers we face, as well as practical ways we can help as both individuals and organizations. We will be strategically organizing the discussion groups in a way that ensures each group includes representatives from different college
access fields that serve unique roles within the goal of supporting FAFSA completion.”
North Carolina: “After creating a goal setting guide, four main goals emerged for the financial aid summit:
Develop a 2023-24 action plan for each school district.
Share about FAFSA simplification.
Provide best practices through breakout sessions.
Encourage schools to begin to think about leveraging partnerships.”
Idaho: “Our goal was to bring key stakeholders together to have a shared understanding of our state’s FAFSA challenges and opportunities. I really wanted people to listen to each other to better understand the various sides of financial
aid: those who are on the student facing side and those who work in the regulations on the college side. Ultimately, I wanted to create a statewide FAFSA committee of people with a shared interest and passion for increasing FAFSA completion in Idaho.”
Arizona: “During our FAFSA summit, we successfully accomplished the following objectives:
Key Partner Convening: We brought together crucial partners to inform them about the challenges and opportunities associated with FAFSA completion in Arizona.
FAFSA Data Analysis: We conducted an in-depth analysis of FAFSA data, allowing us to collaboratively establish a statewide completion goal for the high school class of 2024.
Statewide Strategic Plan: Together, we crafted a comprehensive state strategic plan that outlines the steps and initiatives required to achieve our FAFSA completion goal.”
How did you market your state's FAFSA summit?
Kentucky: “…we started a statewide FAFSA Completion Committee in 2021 to bring partners together virtually every few months to discuss our goals and initiatives. It made sense to begin our invitation process with this group and build
from there. We also invited leaders from partner organizations such as colleges/universities, the Kentucky Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (KASFAA), the Kentucky Department of Education, The Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education,
GEAR Up, TRIO, and other local and state organizations involved with college access and FAFSA completion. We are using RSVPify as a platform to register participants. This also allows us to send reminders and updates to participants leading up to
the event.”
North Carolina: “With a maximum capacity of 250 people, this only allowed for two people from each district in North Carolina to attend the financial aid summit. myFutureNC went through their school superintendent listserv so each superintendent
could pass the invite along to those they thought would be impacted most by the experience. After the deadline to respond to this initial invitation passed, NCSEAA sent out a blast through their counselor listserv and the summit was sold out within
a week!”
Idaho: “Our event was by invitation only. We strategically invited Financial Aid Directors from each institution, several high school counselors, admissions representatives from local institutions, and other partners from state agencies.”
Arizona: “Arizona formed a FAFSA coalition in 2018, and each year the coalition has grown to include key stakeholders from the K-12 field, higher education institutions, college access professionals, state and government agencies, as
well as philanthropic organizations. We personally invited a representative from each of these sectors and organizations to attend the summit.”
Who did you need to get buy in from to host a FAFSA summit (e.g., state board, state agency, independent organization, etc.)?
North Carolina: “Getting buy-in from the leadership team of NCSEAA was important since they were providing time, effort, and funding to pay for attendees’ hotel rooms in addition to stipends for district employees who were on 10-month
contracts and weren’t getting paid to attend the summit as part of their salary. The myFutureNC team and members of the board were excited to see what could come out of a financial aid summit.”
Arizona: “Once the idea of hosting a summit was proposed to the AZ FAFSA Coalition, the group was immediately supportive of the idea and everyone was excited to participate in an in-person convening to move Arizona’s FAFSA initiatives
forward.”
Where did the funding come from to put on a FAFSA summit?
Kentucky: “We are fortunate to utilize the wonderful resource of NCAN’s Postsecondary Partners’ Grant to help with administrative costs like printing and material. We are planning to give each participant a folder with printed resources available to help guide discussion and walk away with resources that can help beyond the day of the summit.”
North Carolina: “myFutureNC, NCSEAA, and GEAR UP came together to help fund the summit. Additionally, the President of Wake Tech Community College gave an in-kind donation to provide the location, tech team, and event manager for the
summit. After creating a sponsorship letter and using their director of development to identify good partners for outreach for the summit, Fidelity Investments covered some costs of the summit. The banking and financial services sector is often supportive
in this space since it relates to promoting financial literacy.”
Idaho: “Funding came from our College & Career Access Team’s annual budget. We were able to pay travel expenses for the Financial Aid Directors from the non-local colleges and universities.”
Arizona: “Since the Arizona Board of Regents leads Arizona’s statewide FAFSA initiative and FAFSA coalition, they provided lunch for the event. Our strategic partners at the Helios Education Foundation provided the space at their education
campus.”
What challenges did you encounter while planning and/or executing your statewide FAFSA summit?
Kentucky: “We wanted to make this FAFSA summit as accessible as possible for participants to attend. Fortunately, our organization has a building large enough to host the summit and is centrally located within the state. To help keep
costs low, we decided not to include a meal as a part of the event. Instead, we opted to begin the event at 1 PM so that participants would have an opportunity to eat lunch before arriving. When selecting a date for the summit, we looked at the date
and location of the KASFAA state conference and planned for the day prior to the start of the conference. Our thought behind this was that more people from further parts of the state could more easily attend if they were already planning to attend
the conference the next day.”
North Carolina: “While it was wonderful to host the summit at a community college, this made it difficult to book a block for a hotel since NCSEAA was covering participants’ lodging. No hotel wanted to provide a block for 150 rooms for
just one night since it would cause the hotel to turn business away for other guests who wanted to visit the days before and after the summit, for example. The hotel also would not gain any revenue from food and beverage fees by providing a block
for the summit attendees. It was also challenging to find the best time in the summer to bring K-12 leaders over so many districts together since many of them are not employed for 12 months.”
Idaho: “No challenges per se just extra time needed to prepare content and plan the logistics.”
Arizona: “Our most significant challenge revolved around achieving our objectives within the limited timeframe of the Summit. Our schedule was structured from 8:30 AM to 2:00 PM, making efficient time utilization crucial. To address this
challenge, we organized a working lunch to ensure that we could effectively tackle all the goals outlined in the agenda.”
In your opinion, what does it mean for a FAFSA summit to be successful?
Kentucky: “The goal for the FAFSA Summit is to create a launching off point for renewed collaboration across the state. What better way than to bring key players together to discuss challenges and strategies in a year of significant change
with Better FAFSA Better Future? We want to learn from one another’s perspective and create common goals that we can all work toward.”
Idaho: “…if you see people having those ‘ah-ha’ moments during the Summit, then you have been successful! Hearing participants say things like ‘Oh, I didn’t realize…’ Or ‘Wow, I hadn’t thought about that before.’”
Arizona: “…a successful FAFSA summit archives the following works to increase the FAFSA completion rate, broaden outreach efforts, create and enhance FAFSA resources, reduce barriers, collaborate, and use data. Ultimately a successful
summit should be a catalyst for positive change and collaboration among stakeholders.”
How does your state plan to measure the success of FAFSA summits?
Kentucky: “We’ll share data regarding previous FAFSA completion rates, as well as data moving forward to track our progress as a state. If collaboration between participating organizations is increased, and this leads to more support
for our students, the Kentucky FAFSA Summit will be a success.”
North Carolina: “A pre- and post-summit survey went out to each participant and provided the team with more knowledge about what participants learned from the summit.”
Arizona: “We intend to gauge our progress by closely monitoring Arizona's FAFSA completion rate on a weekly basis during the 2024-25 FAFSA cycle. This data will serve as our key indicator to determine whether our initiatives are making
a meaningful impact or if further assistance is required, and if so, in which specific areas.”
What was the result of your state’s FAFSA summit?
North Carolina: “A survey was conducted before and after the summit to measure attendees’ awareness, knowledge, and comfort about financial aid. See their post-summit results below:
35% more attendees said they have superior or adequate knowledge about the financial aid process for high school seniors.
31% more attendees said they have superior or adequate knowledge about the resources available in their district, community, or region to assist in the financial aid process.
59% more attendees said they have superior or adequate knowledge about the upcoming changes to the FAFSA.”
Idaho:
“Creation of 4 statewide committees.
Creation of statewide FAFSA Completion Challenge.
Creation of FAFSA handouts and materials.
Financial aid staff had a better understanding of the challenges our student -facing staff face in helping students complete.
Increased communication among institutions and state agencies.”
Arizona: “We received an overwhelmingly positive response from the summit attendees, with a 100% attendance rate representing all regions of the state. Encouraged by this feedback, we are considering establishing this event as an annual
tradition. Each year, we plan to convene as a collective group to develop a strategic plan aimed at achieving our FAFSA goals.”
What advice do you have for those trying to implement a statewide FAFSA summit in their state? What to do/not to do?
Kentucky:
“From a logistical standpoint, we feel that selecting a central location on a day where a large conference is about to begin helps with attendance.”
“…I see this FAFSA Summit as the start of a process. We don’t want this event to be the end of the conversation until next year’s summit. We feel that follow-up is equally important to the event itself. This will help us continue to partner in a collaborative
college access task force throughout the year.”
North Carolina:
“Start planning early! Having over a year to plan for an event this large (250 participants) is ideal.”
“Share resources from your summit widely. The main replicable practices and documents from the summit were shared with the counselor lead from the Department of Public Instruction. They then sent out the resources to every counselor in the state they
had worked with on a listserv.”
“One piece of feedback from counselors was that they are usually not treated with the fancy table settings, good food, and networking opportunities they received at the summit. If you have the funding to provide school counselors with a very professional
event where they feel appreciated, take this opportunity to treat some of the hardest working people in your state.”
Idaho:
“Do’s:
Invite a mix of college and high school staff.
Leave plenty of time for discussion and brainstorming.
Bring lots of chart paper!
Pre-arrange your guests at round tables. Mix people up so there are people from different organizations at each table.
End the summit with a call to action – join a committee, etc.
Don’t:
Fill the entire summit with presentations. Invite people to talk to each other and share their ideas.”
Arizona:
“Make sure that you have representation from all FAFSA stakeholders. Ensuring that everyone's thoughts and voices are heard is a big part of making the summit successful and setting goals and initiatives for your state.”
“After the summit, keep the momentum going- by scheduling meetings throughout the year to report on your state's FAFSA progress and to collaborate on any initiatives. Whether that be a FAFSA coalition like Arizona, a round table group, or a reoccurring
calendar invite, keeping everyone invested and engaged in this work is critical.”
Every state has its own unique challenges, priorities, and resources related to FAFSA completion. Whether your state hosts a more intimate convening like Kentucky or a larger convening like North Carolina, there are so many ways to put on an effective
statewide FAFSA summit. The important thing is that the way your summit is executed is what is best for your state!
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