By Bill DeBaun, Senior Director, Data and Strategic Initiatives
Reading time: Four minutes
Texas’ universal FAFSA policy increased Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion rates and, to a lesser degree, enrollment rates in public high schools for the class
of 2022, according to
new research from Dr. Sie Won Kim at Texas Tech University (Lubbock, TX). FAFSA completion rates increased
the most in public high school that had the lowest levels of FAFSA completion before the policy went into effect, and enrollment rate gains were also concentrated in these high schools.
Universal FAFSA policies, which require high school seniors to submit a FAFSA, state financial aid form, or waive out of doing so, are now active in nine states. Additional state legislatures are considering adopting these policies, and at least one more
state (Connecticut) is on track to implement in the future.
In his study, Kim finds:
Public high schools’ FAFSA completion rates increased 6.3% relative to private high schools for the class of 2022.
Looking at deciles of public high schools by their pre-policy FAFSA completion rates, increases to FAFSA completion rates ranged from 3.1 to 7%, with the largest gains appearing in schools in the first (+7%) and third (+5.1%) deciles.
Impacts on college enrollment were more limited. The study finds positive impacts on any college enrollment in high schools in the first and second deciles of pre-policy FAFSA completion. Postsecondary enrollment rates increased 2 and 2.7% points,
respectively, for these groups of high schools.
The study notes, “However, other decile groups do not show statistically significant effects, indicating that the increase in FAFSA completion does not necessarily translate to higher college enrollment, at least within the first year of policy
implementation.”
Comparing across states, Texas’ implementation of universal FAFSA led to a 10.4% (+17.3%) increase in FAFSA completion relative to states without universal FAFSA policies.
Although interest in these policies has increased greatly since Louisiana became the first state to implement one for its high school class of 2018, studies examining the effects of these policies have been more limited. That’s partially because of the
limited availability of school-level enrollment rate data for researchers to analyze.
This study adds to the field’s understanding of the impacts of universal FAFSA policies, and builds on the work of these studies:
Dr. Ellie Bruecker’s “An Exploration of Financial Aid Application Patterns and College Access: Three Studies Using High School-Level FAFSA Data” examines
high school-level increases in college enrollment based on a school’s pre-implementation level of FAFSA completion. Dr. Bruecker finds in part, “a small, but positive increase in college enrollment among schools that experienced the greatest increase
in FAFSA completion after the implementation of a mandatory FAFSA policy. This effect is not significantly distinguishable from changes in college-going among schools in the middle two quartiles of FAFSA completion, but it is significantly different
from the reference group, schools that experienced the smallest change in FAFSA completion…[T]he reference group experienced a decrease in the college enrollment rate after the implementation of mandatory FAFSA. Thus, while the effect size for
Group 1 is 2.9 percentage points, the average college-going rate for this group actually increased by only 0.8 percentage points. Increasing college enrollment to any degree is a positive outcome and should not be discounted. But it is also important
that the effectiveness of the policy not be overstated.”
Dr. Christa Deneault’s “College Enrollment and Mandatory FAFSA Applications: Evidence from Louisiana” finds in part “Back of the envelope estimates imply approximately a 1-2% increase
in on-time college enrollment across all schools in my sample. Instrumental variables estimation indicates that increasing FAFSA completion rates 10% increases college enrollment rates by 3%. There is suggestive evidence the treatment effects
were larger and more concentrated among schools with a larger percentage of free and reduced-price lunch students, and that applications for merit-based scholarships also increased. I find no evidence that high school graduation rates suffered
from the additional requirement.”
Kim’s study only considers outcomes from the implementation year, and he notes, “investigating long-term outcomes such as college persistence is left for future research” and concludes, “The initial impacts of the FAFSA requirement policy in Texas offer
insights for other states considering similar initiatives.”
The National College Attainment Network (NCAN) will continue to monitor and report on new developments related to universal FAFSA. Have questions about these policies? Email me at debaunb@ncan.org.
Email to a Friend
