How a Mandatory FAFSA Completion Policy in Texas Could Improve College Access. An Essay for the Learning Curve

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11

Walton Family Foundation
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Student Financial Aid; Federal Aid; Graduation Requirements; Financial Needs; Access to Education; College Attendance; Barriers; Work Study Programs; Student Loan Programs; Low Income Students; College Applicants; High School Students; Educational Policy

For many high school students, the cost of attending college poses a major barrier to continuing their education. Federal student aid provided through Pell grants, work study, and loans can offer students with low incomes an avenue toward receiving a postsecondary education. But for students to be eligible for federal student aid, they need to submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. Many students who could benefit from federal aid often neglect to submit a FAFSA form because of various barriers, including a lack of awareness about different financial aid options, a lack of understanding about the eligibility requirements, and the FAFSA form's complexity. Despite FAFSA's potential to promote access to postsecondary education, the national FAFSA completion rate was just 53.8 percent for the high school class of 2019. To increase FAFSA completion rates, Louisiana (in 2017) and Illinois (in 2020) introduced mandatory FAFSA completion policies. Following their lead, Texas implemented a mandatory FAFSA completion policy as a graduation requirement beginning in the 2021-22 school year. Although higher education enrollment data are not yet available for 2022-23, Texas hopes that the increase in the number of students who filled out FAFSA applications will in turn create more access to financial aid and to postsecondary education. With other states in the planning stages for implementing similar policies, the early results from Texas can offer key insights on best practices when introducing their own policies.

ERIC

2023

ED629062