By Catherine Brown, Senior Director, Policy and Advocacy
Reading time: 12 minutes
In recent weeks, the National College Attainment Network (NCAN) and its member organizations were proud to receive awards from the FAFSA Student Support Strategy to help students and families complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) over the summer. The FAFSA Student Support Strategy, announced by the US Department of Education (ED) on May 6 and administered by ECMC, was designed to increase the capacity of organizations providing personalized
advising and communication support throughout the summer to close the FAFSA completion gap. As of May 31, the national FAFSA completion rate for high school seniors was 43.3%, a
13.5% drop from this time last year.
NCAN and its members are hard at work closing that gap by encouraging students to finish the form and complete the postsecondary enrollment process. Attaining a postsecondary degree or credential remains one of the surest paths to economic mobility in the US, and the FAFSA unlocks essential financial aid that puts college within reach for students from low-income families. According to ED, the FAFSA Student Support Strategy is designed to, “help grow capacity for organizations to expand the availability of advisers, counselors, and coaches to support students and contributors through the FAFSA applications...facilitate
FAFSA submission clinics...and to help organizations communicate with parents and students.”
Here is a short summary of some of the more than 75 projects funded and awarded to NCAN members, a list that grows every day. NCAN will add projects below as we receive
information about award amounts and funded activities.
NCAN (national) received $1,498,000 to support a national paid digital campaign to reach Pell Grant-eligible young people ages 17-20 encouraging them to #DoTheFAFSA from
May-August 2024. This campaign is running on Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, and LinkedIn in both English and Spanish. The social media toolkit also includes an informational one pager and pre-drafted posts and graphics for our partners to share and
post.
Achieve Atlanta (GA) received $162,000 to support Atlanta Public Schools seniors and Achieve Atlanta Scholars to complete the FAFSA and enroll this fall. The funds will allow the
organization to hire summer interns to conduct outreach, provide 1:1 and group FAFSA assistance, and aid students with summer melt challenges. The grant will also support the creation of data dashboards and case management tools to track student progress
in real-time and support targeted messaging and interventions.
Share weekly FAFSA completion data with key stakeholders
Create and execute an outreach and communications plan targeted at families
Provide personalized support and resources to students
Run the Alabama Goes to College Help Desk
Develop a Summer Build one-pager providing steps for high school counselors/career coaches to take before students graduate and leave campus.
Develop a paid social media campaign to reach students/families across the state encouraging FAFSA completion and raising awareness on availability of support from Alabama Possible completion.
Partner with local organizations to remove myths and misunderstanding about FAFSA for parents of middle school students.
Collect data for their annual Cash for College Awards that are awarded to schools for high FAFSA completion rates.
Conduct school outreach calls to gather qualitative data on how counselors are managing FAFSA completion.
The Arizona FAFSA Coalition (AZ), supported by the Arizona Board of Regents, received $1 million to boost FAFSA completion rates by:
Providing Direct FAFSA support and coaching to students by:
Funding Postsecondary Transition Coordinators to support FAFSA completion at regional FAFSA support sites to offer hands-on help, resources, and guidance, making the FAFSA completion process more accessible.
Organizing additional in-person FAFSA completion events and providing hands-on assistance, resources, and guidance to facilitate FAFSA completion.
Using digital FAFSA assistance and nudges through:
College Access Professional Training: Course updates and enhancements to scale FAFSA completion capacity-building.
FAFSA Texting Platform: Enhancement of the digital FAFSA assistant
Test Platforms: Deployment of text messaging to send direct/ action-oriented messages to students, guiding them through the FAFSA process and providing updates on college enrollment.
Strategic communications, such as expanding communication channels, including additional phone lines for the AZ FAFSA Hotline to improve student interactions and provide quicker callback services.
Targeted outreach for Latino/a and Indigenous students through print and online advertising campaigns that will be deployed to increase awareness and engagement with FAFSA resources among Latino/a and indigenous communities. Additionally, bus tours
with multiple stops at Hopi and Navajo communities will bring students and families to a university overnight to help families complete the FAFSA and prepare for postsecondary enrollment.
Data analysis through employing dedicated data analysts to monitor support needs, issues, and student engagement at each event location and through Arizona College Connect. This data will be used to refine FAFSA educational content and enhance overall
effectiveness of the coalition’s efforts.
College AIM(GA) received $127,309 to pivot its staff's summer focus to FAFSA support, extend outreach efforts
to parents and family members, hold FAFSA completion office hours in community spaces, execute student-facing FAFSA completion communications campaigns, and hold FAFSA completion events.
College Access Fairfax (VA) received $12,500 to assist nearly 1,000 students in completing and submitting the FAFSA. They will hold in-person completion events, schedule
individual appointments with other students who need assistance, and they intend to hire translators to assist in communicating with families.
College Possible Minnesota(MN) received $150,000 to provide
free FAFSA support for any Minnesota students struggling with submitting or completing the FAFSA. Through a dedicated web site, any Minnesota student and their family members can schedule free 1:1 FAFSA completion support with a College Possible Minnesota
team member who is trained on FAFSA support. Additionally, College Possible Minnesota is providing communications resources to the broader education community, including a letter of introduction, social media graphics, newsletter banners, QR codes,
and messages that high school counselors and principals can use in their email's Out of Office responses directing students to College Possible Minnesota FAFSA completion support. College Possible Minnesota is also available to co-host FAFSA events
with schools. Their staff will travel with FAFSA expertise, laptops, student incentives and food all geared toward helping students and families complete the FAFSA. This support will be provided all summer.
Granite Edvance(NH) received $557,000 to promote the importance of the FAFSA, informing students and
families that it’s not too late to file; hire temporary staff members to directly support students and families throughout the state in FAFSA-filing; facilitate additional filing events across New Hampshire; and advertise those events as well as Granite
Edvance’s free services, including 1:1 filing support. The initiative will target not just graduating seniors but students who may have filed FAFSAs in prior years and have not done so this year due to confusion or frustration over the new form.
Higher Heights Youth Empowerment Programs, Inc.(CT) received $158,033 to expand its reach by hiring additional bilingual college access advisors. These advisors will directly
connect with Connecticut high school students from the class of 2024 who have not yet submitted their FAFSA forms.
The Idaho State Board of Education (ID) received a grant from ECMC in the amount of $203,850 and plan to offer FAFSA office hours throughout the state, pay off-contract high school
counselors to staff those events, offer food, and provide gas gift cards for students who attend. Funds will also be used to conduct outreach to students who have not submitted a 2024-25 FAFSA via postcards, emails, and social media. Schools that
increase their FAFSA completion rate from last year will be recognized with a $500 to use toward college and career activities.
I Know I Can (OH) received $200,100 to leverage services and activities to narrow the current gap in FAFSA submission and completion among students in central Ohio. They will provide
extended summer hours for advisors to work with students on FAFSA completion, run a summer-long FAFSA awareness campaign including billboards and radio/social media ads, deploy of their Mobile Service Unit for FAFSA events and advising office hours
throughout the community, and distribute Uber codes to assist families with transportation to events and advising office hours.
The Iowa College Access Network (IA) received $182,580 to provide evening and weekend availability for in-person or virtual FAFSA completion appointments at each of their seven
offices statewide. Additionally, they will work with school counselors to provide up to 75 completion events for high schools and communities as well as host twelve FAFSA Step-by-Step webinars (with six conducted fully in Spanish) for families. They
will also recruit up to 50 school counselors to join the FAFSA completion initiative and work locally to boost completion in their schools. To fully support their education partners across the state and increase local capacity, the organization will
offer FAFSA Completion Training sessions throughout the summer.
Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority(KY) received $977,500 to host a FAFSA
training boot camp for college access professionals in June. When counselors attend this training and agree to host FAFSA tailgate events in their area, they will receive a $3000 stipend to make their event robust. FAFSA Tailgate events will target
recently graduated seniors and current college students to assist with their FAFSAs or other requirements on their to-do list before college starts in the fall. KHEAA will also use social media to grow the reach of these events. They also plan to
increase FAFSA help hours from KHEAA’s Outreach staff and offer extended hours for their call center staff during June, July, and August.
Missouri College and Career Attainment Network – MOCAN (MO) received $69,000 from ECMC. MOCAN plans to use those funds to provide stipends to counselors so they can support students
both virtually and in person. Furthermore, MOCAN is hosting two in person FAFSA completion events and conducting a media campaign about the resources available to help students file their FAFSA. They are collaborating with the Missouri College Advising
Corps on their efforts.
More Than Bootstraps (NJ) received $27,500 to fund their College Student Leaders (all college students in the program from Passaic, NJ), allowing them to continue to develop
their skills and capacities as community leaders while supporting the college-going ambitions of Passaic’s young people. The organization will hold FAFSA awareness events, FSA ID creation events, and FAFSA completion events. They will devote substantial
time and efforts to one-on-one work with students and families, in person or through email, text, or online platforms so that Passaic’s students and families can get the one-on-one support they need to be successful.
New Mexico Education Assistance Foundation - NMEAF (NM) received 220,000 from ECMC. NMEAF is organizing regional “mega FAFSA” events throughout the state with food, drinks, and prizes.
The organization allocated money for advertising these events via traditional (e.g., billboards, radio, and posters) and more modern (e.g., social media) mediums. Counselors will be paid for their work, and NMEAF is conducting direct outreach to households
via text, calls, and direct mailings, as well as delivering flyers to churches, libraries, and other community centers. Flyers will also be handed out at public events to help increase turnout.
The Peninsula College Fund (CA) received $10,000 to increase its outreach and communication to students and families regarding the importance of completing the FAFSA.
uAspire (CA, MA, NY) received $397,000 to increase daytime, weekend, and evening virtual advising sessions for high school and community partners in Boston (MA), San Francisco (CA)
Bay Area, and New York (NY) over June, July, and August as well as expand their help Desk for California, Massachusetts, and New York students outside of their caseloads. uAspire will also partner with Get Schooled to target messages to students across
states served about the virtual Help Desk hours and their open-source student-facing resources and financial aid videos.
Design a comprehensive statewide informational campaign targeting students and families focused on: (1) debunking common myths surrounding FAFSA, (2) highlighting the importance of completing the FAFSA, (3) and providing guidance on how to complete
it and where to seek support.
Increase the availability of individual student appointments at alternative times (evenings and weekends) that are currently not available due by hiring seasoned advisors on a short-term contract basis.
Test from their four Get2College centers in the community FAFSA completion events keeping in mind the unique needs of each of those graphic areas.
Engage the faith-based community across the state, by building family awareness and support to complete the FAFSA.
Leverage Mississippi communities to support summer FAFSA completion with a general call-to-action to support community-driven FAFSA completion events. This call-to-action will subsidize the cost of staffing, volunteers, supplies and hosting.
To foster motivation for communities to host events, they will be adding a summer FAFSA competition for sites that host events to win monetary prizes to use for future FAFSA programming.
Also, they will develop a strategy to support real-time FAFSA troubleshooting for advisors and volunteers when they are having issues with completing the FAFSA, so they feel supported through this process too.
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