By Catherine Brown, Senior Director, Policy and Advocacy, and Elizabeth Morgan, Chief External Relations Officer
Reading time: Nine minutes
All across the country, with support from the ECMC FAFSA Student Support Strategy and other sources, National College Attainment Network (NCAN) members are running
through the tape to get Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion rates back to normal. This blog details just a few of the hundreds of examples of this work taking
place nationally. The most common practices include one on one support for students and families, targeted outreach and communication, media engagement to promote FAFSA completion, and mini-grants and engagement of community partners. If you are looking
to speak with one of our members about this work, please reach out! We’d be happy to connect you.
California
California Student Assistance Commission (CSAC)
CSAC, the largest state financial aid agency in the nation, has focused its energy this summer on launching an aggressive
outreach and marketing campaign and providing one on one support to students and families. CSAC is partnering with the California Community College Chancellor’s office to host a series of statewide Cash for College webinars before the state’s September
3, 2024, community college deadline. These webinars, which are free and open to the public, feature financial aid experts who can help students and families submit and complete their financial aid applications. CSAC has also engaged community-based
organizations around the state to share resources and partner on hosting community events at colleges.
The team at CSAC developed a social media toolkit aimed at highlighting the state’s community college deadline and has shared it with their higher education partners, community-based organizations, and K-12 stakeholders. They are partnering with current
and former students to share their stories about how financial aid has benefited them in their educational journeys. CSAC is also working with an external marketing firm to boost engagement across all social media channels. And finally, it has sent
over 58,000 postcards to high school seniors from the class of 2024 who have a GPA on file with CSAC, but no financial aid application. These postcards encourage students to apply for aid and highlight resources that are available for help.
10,000 Degrees
Recognizing the urgent need for support, 10,000 Degrees launched a series of “Financial Aid Summer Office Hours,” offering open-access assistance to all students—not just for 10,000 Degrees scholars.
These sessions, held in late June through early August, provided nearly 100 students with personalized guidance in both English and Spanish (with specialized support for students from mixed-status families), helping them navigate the complexities
of the new FAFSA system.
The impact was immediate and profound. Students arrived at these sessions stressed and anxious, grappling with a lack of response from the US Department of Education (ED) about their submission, unanswered questions, submission errors, and verification
challenges. The team of dedicated financial aid professionals at 10,000 Degrees worked closely with each student, identifying issues through a detailed intake process and partnering with them to find solutions. Whether it was contacting college campuses
or liaising with ED, 10,000 Degrees worked to ensure each student could move forward with their application. One standout story from these sessions involved a student who, despite applying for financial aid, lacked a clear understanding of how it
would cover their educational expenses. Their team took this opportunity to educate the student on the entire financial aid process, highlighting the critical need for ongoing FAFSA education in California’s high schools.
Colorado
Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE)
CDHE worked to enhance FAFSA completion events by partnering with institutions of higher education across
the state. To date, CDHE has collaborated with six different postsecondary institutions, including Community College of Denver, Red Rocks Community College, Pikes Peak State College, Community College of Aurora, Colorado Mountain College, and Adams
State College, to organize a total of 12 successful events. Five more are scheduled for August. These events have collectively led to over 150 FAFSA submissions. Statewide FAFSA submissions have risen by 10.1% since CDHE was awarded an ECMC Student
Support Strategy grant. Looking ahead, CDHE remains committed to supporting institutions in their efforts to facilitate FAFSA completion events. Currently, there are five upcoming events in August that CDHE will be assisting with, and outreach is
underway to engage institutions for September events.
Denver Scholarship Foundation (DSF)
Since May 6, 2024, DSF has supported 2024-25 FAFSA completion in the following ways. This work has resulted in 647 submitted FAFSAs, with 599 FAFSAs completed:
Hosted 26 events (clinics, workshops, events) compared with six last year
Served over 760 students and contributors at DSF-hosted events
Trained and supported additional volunteers to assist with FAFSA submissions
Purchased Chromebooks for use by students and contributors at events, enabling them to work side by side and navigate application difficulties
Engaged contractor to plan and implement structure for event coordination, volunteer management, and data tracking
Provided food, swag, and incentives to entice event attendance and FAFSA completion
Deployed regional teams to plan and implement community FAFSA events and services throughout various regions of the city/metro area
Received news coverage about services and to inform community of continuing events
Supported FAFSA events hosted by college partners
Provided Lyft codes to cover student/family transportation to events
Distributed a PSA in English and Spanish that can help spread the word about the importance of college and resources to families.
North Carolina
North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority (NCSEAA)
NCSEAA has worked with numerous partners, including North Carolina’s community college system, the UNC System, J.M. Belk Endowment, GEAR UP NC, College Advising Corps, and myFutureNC, to take a comprehensive
approach to FAFSA outreach that includes:
Providing graduation toolkits to high schools and districts to use in their end of year events, promoting FAFSA completion (display signs, ads for programs, messaging, and social media graphics).
Securing five donated billboards promoting FAFSA completion
Offering mini-grants funded by J. M. Belk Endowment to community colleges to promote the Next NC Scholarship and FAFSA completion (50+ colleges participating).
Sending “action-needed” four-part email drip campaign to nearly 17,000 college-intending students who completed a college application but not a FAFSA, encouraging them to complete one, achieving open rates of over 60%. These students
also received a postcard mailer.
Providing one-on-one support – NCSEAA hired 89 school counselors/professionals to work in 52 colleges/universities this summer to reach out to students about completing a FAFSA. To date, they have engaged in over 41,000 outreach activities
(calls, emails, helping walk-ins, helping with FAFSA events) supporting incoming freshmen, current college students, and adult learners with their FAFSA.
Running an email campaign to students who have errors on their FAFSAs, encouraging them to fix them and instructions on how to do so. This email saw an open rate of 57% and an 8% click through rate.
Targeting online media into three communities and populations that are under-performing relative to the state (-10.1%):
Randolph County – FAFSA completions: 24.0% vs. last year
Henderson County – completions: 9.0%
Alamance County – completions: 15.3%
Students from mixed-status families
Four "FAFSA Fiesta" events targeting support to students with a contributor without an SSN. Over 25 families (70+ individuals registered) have attended these events where there was bilingual support to help them with FAFSAs and financial
aid at local community colleges. The state also partnered with local media that specialize in serving Latino/a communities to promote these events and raise awareness.
The state’s enhanced CFNC FAFSA Tracker has allowed it to track progress and pinpoint where targeted support can make a difference. In most promotional activities, NCSEAA uses
the positive message of explaining the value of the Next NC Scholarship to motivate students to complete their FAFSA since they can see how much aid they might qualify for.
As of August 9, NCSEAA has seen 7,983 FAFSAs completed, an increase of 820 FAFSAs over the same period last year, resulting in an estimated additional $2,331,298 Pell Grants earned. And despite more FAFSAs being completed each day, FAFSA errors have decreased
from a high of 9,241 on April 15, 2024, to 2,610 as of August 6, 2024.
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia College Prep Roundtable
The FAFSA PUSH (Preparing Undergraduates Successfully For Higher Education) initiative focuses on assisting students in and around the Greater Philadelphia Region
who are at various stages of the completion process, especially those who have started but not finished their FAFSA applications. With the help of its partners, Philadelphia College Prep Roundtable provides workshops, trains advisors, supports families, and reaches out to the community. Its goal is to make it easier for students to get financial aid by having more advisors available, simplifying the completion process, and collaborating with
other partners to make FAFSA completion a reality.
Washington
College Success Foundation (CSF)
When CSF stepped in to convene and launch a statewide FAFSA campaign, the state faced a 14% deficit compared to last year’s completion rate, which was one of the lowest in the country.
Through its efforts, the state has now narrowed the gap with last year to 4%, and is now in position to catch up with last year.
CSF has accomplished this goal by scheduling statewide events, distributing hundreds of thousands of dollars in regrants to schools, districts, and CBOs to support summer FAFSA completion efforts, and creating a centralized online platform for students
to book appointments with financial aid experts. 40 grants have been approved to school districts, nonprofit organizations, coalitions, colleges, chambers and councils across the state. The funds were used to help pay for venues, food for students/families,
transportation, marketing, stipends, interpretation services, raffles/incentives and materials and resources.
Besides districts, CSF provided resources to numerous partners and organizations including Heritage University, Evergreen Public Schools, Lower Columbia College, Walla Walla Community College, Washington State University, Greater Vancouver Chamber Foundation,
Greater Issaquah Chamber of Commerce, Metropolitan Development Council, African Young Dreamers Empowerment Program, College Possible, Get Schooled Foundation, South Puget Sound Pathways and the Washington Youth Alliance to support FAFSA completion.
Specifically, the funds have been used to assist with ad and text campaigns, in-person and virtual FAFSA/WASFA completion events, meetings with practitioners and business leaders, hybrid workshops, parent engagement, some home visits, supplemental event
supports and youth action activities.
CSF has crafted communication materials in various languages, organizing additional webinar trainings, and concurrently developing grant application and reporting templates. CSF has also actively recruited experts to provide students and families with
centralized and personalized services for continuing support throughout the summer. The organization also developed a centralized scheduling platform available on its website for students and families to easily book appointments with experts. The
scheduling platform is available in both English and Spanish. Experts include both CSF staff and external professionals who have signed up through this special initiative.
Finally, CSF’s marketing and communications team has conducted personalized/high-touch outreach to 11 school districts and has received incredible traction, including additional marketing assistance and widespread dissemination of social media tools.
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