The 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is open, and the National College Attainment Network (NCAN) has free social media images and messages for you to use as you work to bounce back from last year’s challenging FAFSA season. We
have updated last summer’s #DoTheFAFSA campaign social media toolkit with additional pre-drafted posts (in English and Spanish) and graphics for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, TikTok,
and LinkedIn. You can use the posts as written or draft your own messages customized for and linked to your own FAFSA completion events and resources. Please also share the toolkit with your partners. The toolkit is free to any organization for noncommercial
use.
The original #DoTheFAFSA campaign toolkit was popular during May-August 2024 as organizations across the country worked overtime to raise low 2024-25 FAFSA completion rates. During that period, 5,814 viewers viewed the toolkit a total of 6,646 times.
The platforms that saw the most traffic were Facebook and Instagram, with over 1,000 asset downloads between the two platforms.
The new messages in the toolkit highlight the need for students to make a plan and fill out the 2025-26 FAFSA, emphasizing the following themes:
Family conversations about college planning can be hard—but worth it. Preparing for these conversations can make them a little easier and more successful.
It’s your future – make a plan that works for YOU, whether that is four-year college, community college, or a technical and trade program.
No matter what type of financial aid you’re looking for or what schools you’re applying to—it all starts with the FAFSA.
You can do this!
Most organizations use “organic” social media posts to share information, resources, and opportunities like FAFSA completion events. The summer 2024 #DoTheFAFSA campaign, however, demonstrated that using paid digital advertising is an effective way to
reach Pell-eligible young people who do not follow your social media accounts already. If your organization has some funds available - even as little as $1,000 - for paid social promotion, we encourage you to give it a try this year. Keep these key
learnings in mind as you plan.
The summer 2024 #DoTheFAFSA paid digital ad campaign was highly effective as measured by the rate at which ads led viewers to click on fafsa.gov. The combined click-through rate was 0.44%, far exceeding the industry benchmark of 0.07%-0.15%.
Top-performing platforms by number of ad impressions and clicks were Snapchat and Meta (Instagram and Facebook). TikTok ads generated the highest click-through rate, and gaming platforms and Reddit also delivered click-throughs that exceeded industry
benchmarks.
Targeting ads to young people ages 17-20 with Pell Grant-eligible family incomes ($60,000 or below) allowed the campaign to focus on the messages relevant to them: They could receive grants to pay for college they would not need to pay back, and more
students than ever are eligible for those grants.
Almost all 15 ad themes performed at or substantially above relevant benchmarks, meaning that meaningful numbers of viewers found the content useful and interesting as measured by their engagement. According to these results, there is no single best
message with which to promote the FAFSA. Deploying a range of messages drove more clicks than any single ad theme would have yielded.
The US Department of Education has little to no budget for paid advertising campaigns and relies primarily on organic social media posts and email to reach digital audiences of students, parents, and loan borrowers. It is challenging to reach new
audiences of individuals who have not yet completed a FAFSA with this strategy, especially if they are unfamiliar with financial aid.
Although this campaign was national in scope, the strong results imply that a geotargeted campaign by state or zip code would also be effective.
Thank you for your hard work to meet students where they are and provide credible information and assistance. Please reach out to me, Elizabeth Morgan (morgane@ncan.org) with any questions.
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