By Damian Ramsey, MSW
The long awaited financial aid overhaul that took place this year has been coined the “FAFSA Fiasco.” Revamped for the first time in 40 years, the new FAFSA was supposed to simplify what has historically been an overly complicated process to secure aid to pay for college (2-year, 4-year, or technical programs). The changes included reducing the number of questions, implementing automatic tax data sharing with the IRS, and expanding Pell eligibility for some of the most marginalized students. While these were welcome adjustments that solved old issues with the application, the attempt to streamline the financial aid process backfired, resulting in a whole new set of obstacles for students and families. In spite of the hiccups with the overhaul, Learn4Life Bright Spots OneGoal, The Scholarship Academy, and College Advising Corps have made great progress with their FAFSA completion efforts.
The delayed launch of the new FAFSA gave students less time to apply, technical problems with the website caused application fatigue, and processing delays limited the ability of many colleges and universities to issue award letters in time for students to make informed decisions about their futures. Reflecting on the impact of the new FAFSA on students, Taylor Ramsey, Executive Director at OneGoal Metro Atlanta said, “It’s been troubling to think about how many students are being forced to make a life altering decision about their postsecondary journey without one of the most important bits of information — the price tag.”
FAFSA completion is one of the strongest predictors of postsecondary enrollment (especially for low-income students and students of color) because it is the gateway to access aid for college. However, without financial aid award letters, students have been left in limbo. Should they enroll in college without knowing the full cost? Should they postpone enrollment until the challenges with FAFSA subside? Or should they pursue other postsecondary options? National enrollment rates have trended downward for nearly a decade. In metro Atlanta, the enrollment rate for the region’s nearly 42,000 high school seniors is 68%, down from 75% in 2015. The latest FAFSA difficulties threaten to continue this downward trend. In Georgia, only 42% of seniors have completed their FAFSA, and the FAFSA completion rate is down 14.5% year-over-year, representing 9,000 fewer applications.
Learn4Life’s Postsecondary Change Action Network of district, nonprofit, and higher education leaders, convened to share strategies to help navigate the new form and increase completion rates in metro Atlanta. Learn4Life Bright Spots OneGoal, The Scholarship Academy, and College Advising Corps, are applying innovative approaches to help students in our region overcome barriers to the new FAFSA and make informed postsecondary plans.
“This has truly been an all-hands-on-deck effort,” said Cortney Duritsa Lockhart of OneGoal Metro Atlanta, “Every member of our program team spent countless hours in our classrooms, working arm-in-arm with our teachers and school staff to ensure that our Fellows were able to submit their FAFSAs before they crossed that graduation stage. It took looking at each student, identifying their unique barrier, and then individualizing our outreach and support to get them over the finish line.” This summer, OneGoal is offering ongoing support to students and families to navigate the FAFSA process, including making revisions, analyzing award letters, and appealing financial aid packages. As of 6/4, OneGoal has supported 228 Fellows across 2 districts, and has achieved an 83% FAFSA completion rate.
The Scholarship Academy (TSA), which leads the programmatic aspects of the College Bound FAFSA Initiative, also adjusted their approach to account for the challenges with the new FAFSA. In the fall, they emphasized information-sharing to educate stakeholders about important changes to the form. Once the FAFSA was released, they leveraged their revamped Virtual Scholarship Center to monitor progress toward completion for every student who attended a College Bound event, or engaged with College Bound staff during weekly on-campus support. To make up for the shortened FAFSA window, TSA is extending their services through the summer to reach any outstanding students on their caseload who have yet to complete the FAFSA. So far this year, they have supported the completion of 771 FAFSAs across 10 high schools in 4 districts, for a 68% FAFSA completion rate – only 3% less than last year’s rate despite the many barriers to the new form.
College Advising Corps (CAC), which trains recent college graduates to be full-time college advisors at metro Atlanta schools, also pivoted their programming to meet FAFSA challenges head on. They incorporated information about the new FAFSA into existing advisor and counselor trainings, expanded completion support to include day, evening, and virtual events, provided FAFSA updates through family academy texting campaigns, and leveraged their AI assisted chatbot, “Ari,” to support students with FAFSA at anytime, anywhere. So far this year, CAC has supported the completion of 1,561 FAFSAs for a 64% completion rate, 6% higher than this time last year.
The full effect of this year’s “FAFSA Fiasco” has yet to be fully understood. What we do know, is that it will take creativity and a willingness to go the extra mile, to see students through this application cycle. Learn4Life Bright Spots OneGoal, The Scholarship Academy, and College Advising Corps have demonstrated both, and are seeing promising results — a notable achievement considering the obstacles they’ve faced this year. They are strong models for others to learn from and build upon. Doing so holds promise to provide Atlanta Metro’s most vulnerable students with direct support to overcome obstacles to FAFSA completion, improve their chances for postsecondary success, and secure our region’s economic future.
For information on how to get involved with OneGoal, College Bound, or College Advising Corps, email Damian Ramsey (dramsey@l4lmetroatlanta.org), Community Engagement Manager at Learn4Life. To join L4L’s conversation about postsecondary access and completion, sign up for our Change Action Network here. All are welcome.
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