Every single day, students and families step into the offices of National College Attainment Network (NCAN) members across the country seeking advice, encouragement, and expertise. And every single day, NCAN members deliver it and help to keep students
on the postsecondary pathways that will shape their futures. This past year, certainly more than most years, those students and families called on us to help them navigate a truly unprecedented circumstance. For our field, 2023-24 was an emergency
unfolding in painfully slow motion, but it also highlighted something I know and deeply believe is true: our work changes lives every single day.
There’s no getting around it: the new 2024-25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), known as the Better FAFSA, which should have led more students to apply for financial aid and enroll in college, did not deliver. NCAN members and partners
spent the year coping with delays, confusion, workarounds, and disillusionment from students and parents. Ultimately, the high school class of 2024’s FAFSA completions declined 11.6% year-over-year through June 28, which represents a decline of more than 250,000 fewer seniors who completed a FAFSA this year than last. This unprecedented drop in completions
portends a sharp drop in college enrollment this fall.
I believe these declines would have been much worse without our collective efforts and those of our partners. Those partners, who represent a broad cross-section of individuals and organizations with an interest in students’ postsecondary outcomes, joined
us in giving all they had through long days that stretched into long weeks and long months. “Network” is in our organization’s name, but it’s not in name only; at its core, our work is interdependent and relationship-driven, and this past year exemplified
that reality.
That said, we must acknowledge the deep sadness, frustration, and burnout this almost yearlong emergency has caused for many NCAN members. Better FAFSA’s poor implementation meant you could not plan your FAFSA training and events until
late in the year, and technological dysfunction meant students encountered errors you could not explain or fix. You had to spend much more time than ever on FAFSA completion for worse results. NCAN has heard many stories of students who gave up on
their college dreams or who saw scholarships slip away. The burden was unforgivably high on students from mixed-status families. I want you to know that the NCAN staff did all we could think of to share your experiences and reactions with the US Department
of Education (ED), Congress, and the Biden Administration. Your incredible hard work and advocacy made these circumstances real in the halls of power, and your voice drove real changes to the process that connected, is connecting, and will connect students and families with financial aid they might not otherwise have received.
Thank you for all of you have done. It is an honor to work alongside you. Here are highlights of how NCAN endeavored to support you and your students this year.
We led the way in FAFSA advocacy and training. NCAN led the field in providing training and responding to the challenges posed by the new Better FAFSA rollout. With your crucial feedback, we spent months advocating with ED for transparency,
fixes, and workarounds to help navigate the Better FAFSA.
Trained more than 550 individuals at our Better FAFSA Train-the-Trainer Summit in Washington, DC, in July 2023 (pictured above) and another 500+ attendees at our National Conference in Dallas, TX, in October 2023.
Delivered a comprehensive webinar training series on Better FAFSA to more than 8,230 live participants.
Collected real-time examples of FAFSA errors, shared them with ED, and published workarounds and how-to resources.
Raised $4.7 million for a national summer 2024 #DoTheFAFSA Campaign to encourage more Pell-eligible young people to complete the application in time for fall 2024
enrollment.
Testified to Congress about the struggles many students faced in deciding if and where to
attend college and warned of a "catastrophic" decline in higher education enrollment for the fall 2024 semester.
Connected reporters to NCAN members for interviews about the FAFSA problems and to identify students willing to share their stories, such as this Chalkbeat article featuring a OneGoal high school senior.
Engaged many policymakers with FAFSA Tracker data to raise awareness of the dangerously low 2024-25 FAFSA completion rates.
We delivered high-quality educational programming and opportunities for peer connections. In
addition to amplifying the field’s most promising practices and proven outcomes, NCAN also focused on creating spaces to deepen our connection to the work happening in the field and leaning on your expertise to inform our national voice. As one member
noted, “We could not do what we do without NCAN. The insight they bring and connections they help us build are invaluable.”
Increased NCAN membership by 5% with a high 88% member renewal rate (see chart above).
Attracted a record 1,326 attendees (10% growth) to our 2023 National Conference in Dallas, TX, for essential training and professional
development, including a Mental Health First Aid Certification opportunity.
Engaged 25 leaders from across the country through NCAN’s Advisory Task Force, providing us with real time knowledge of the conditions, obstacles,
and victories our members are experiencing across the nation.
Briefed members on the Supreme Court decision banning the use of race-conscious college admissions and provided space for processing the decision and sharing program responses.
Provided $345,000 in regrants from Capital One to 17 NCAN member organizations for FAFSA completion events in 24 cities, in addition to 10 regrants for members focused on improving student mental wellness or supporting postsecondary transitions for students with learning differences.
Hosted a series of peer exchanges for college access network leaders, executive leaders, and topic-specific discussions as well as established an email listserv for more than 100 members interested in exchanging solutions and ideas about data and
research.
Delivered custom consulting services to a variety of public and private foundations in the postsecondary education attainment and scholarships sector, completing projects across the country to help these clients carry out best practices, leverage
their influence, and increase their impact with targeted student populations.
Achieved another strong year of e-learning participation in addition to comprehensive Better FAFSA webinar training.
Doubled visitors to ncan.org from an average of 13,000+ per month in 2022-23 to 26,000+ per month in 2023-24 (see chart below).
We made meaningful impact in educational policy and advocacy. NCAN’s advocacy efforts achieved substantial outcomes that resonated with influential branches of our nation's government, benefiting the broader postsecondary attainment field.
Helped secure federal funding for FAFSA completion through the Student Support Strategy, a $50 million fund that benefited more than 250 organizations for summer 2024 initiatives.
Hosted a successful 2024 Hill Day and Advocacy Training (pictured above) with nearly 100 member organizations who collectively participated in more than 100 meetings with legislators from 25 states.
Launched a new state policy resource library to support members in improving college affordability and advocating for policy improvements nationwide.
We forged systemic change and collaboration at the state and district levels.
NCAN built and strengthened partnerships that allowed us to amplify our work even further beyond our membership.
Continued support for 15 state-level NCAN member organizations to inform and advance state-level college
and career readiness policies and practices, including $220,000 in regrant support.
Partnered with the National Student Clearinghouse to prepare and inform the field about the forthcoming StudentTracker® 3.0 platform, which will make accessing and understanding students’ postsecondary outcomes easier and more efficient.
Collaborated with the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) and the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) to hold the inaugural Midwest FAFSA Summit in Chicago (IL) garnering 125 attendees from across the Midwest and beyond to examine state-level approaches to promoting FAFSA completion.
Engaged AASA, the School Superintendents Association, to support district leaders with accessing FAFSA completion data and providing summer supports to class of 2024 while planning for future learning opportunities related to college and career readiness
We stood by our commitment to strengthen and increase our efforts in diversity, inclusion, and accessibility.
We made progress on our efforts both internally and externally.
Welcoming a third cohort of 12 exceptional rising leaders of color (pictured above) for our Leading for Equity Fellowship.
Launched NCAN’s first Justice Impacted Fellowship, supporting eight NCAN member organizations to explore how they can support students who
are incarcerated or formerly incarcerated in pursuing postsecondary education.
Continued our staff affinity groups and established an internal council to help advance initiatives that address systemic barriers, promote fairness and equity, champion inclusivity, nurture belonging, and improve accessibility across all facets
of our organization.
Invested in hiring and engaging some fantastic people who have been essential to advancing our mission and serving members well:
Finally, we had a strong financial year with expenses balanced by revenue. Our early unaudited financial statements forecast that NCAN will add approximately $500,000 to net assets without donor restrictions as of June 30, 2024. NCAN
has maintained or added to net assets in nine of the last 10 years, evidence of long-term budget balancing along with growth of a prudent reserve that stabilizes cash flow variations and provides for emergencies. NCAN will post our audit when it is
completed in fall 2024. Thank you to all our members for your ongoing financial support, and deep gratitude to all our grant, conference sponsorship, and contract funders without whom NCAN’s work would not be possible. Below we list our 2023-24 funders
of $50,000 or more.
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