This post first appeared on the Florida College Access Network's blog. Click the link to read the full article. NCAN is grateful to FCAN for allowing us to share with our audience.
Florida’s college access community rallied this summer to boost Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion rates for the Class of 2024, overcoming significant challenges posed by a delayed rollout. The Florida College Access Network (FCAN) recently convened key partners to showcase
strategies and outcomes from this statewide effort.
Despite initial setbacks, these community-based partners closed gaps and increased completions through innovative outreach and persistent collaboration, leveraging multilingual resources, community partnerships, peer-to-peer support, and targeted digital
campaigns to reach and assist students across diverse communities.
Key Outcomes:
Increasing completions: From May to August, 26,511 seniors from the Class of 2024 completed the FAFSA, a 40% increase over the previous year. This progress is particularly significant given an 8,000-student increase in the senior
class size.
Narrowing gaps: Over the summer, Florida reduced the FAFSA completion rate gap between the Class of 2024 and the Class of 2023 from 8.5 to 6.2 percentage points. This improvement represents an additional 4,876 FAFSA completions, bringing
the state closer to the previous year’s performance.
Effective Strategies:
Florida’s success in narrowing the FAFSA completion gap this summer is the result of a diverse array of innovative strategies implemented by community partners across the state, who pivoted from traditional outreach methods to embrace a targeted approach
that met students where they were—both physically and digitally.
From leveraging peer supports to mobilizing student FAFSA coaches, organizations tailored their strategies to local needs while addressing common barriers like language differences and technology access. These efforts not only boosted completion rates
but also uncovered valuable insights about engaging hard-to-reach populations, including recent graduates and returning adult learners.
The following strategies exemplify how Florida’s college access community transformed obstacles into opportunities, setting new benchmarks for FAFSA outreach and completion support.
1. Multilingual outreach and resources: Organizations across Florida developed comprehensive bilingual support systems, offering FAFSA workshops and materials in multiple languages. This approach not only assisted students but also engaged
parents in the process, particularly in communities with high populations of first-generation college students.
Email to a Friend