This summer, the U.S. Education Department awarded the Arizona Board of Regents $1 million to try to boost the completion rates of FAFSA forms in the state; the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form helps students qualify for financial aid to go to college.
Technical issues and delays on the federal level hurt completion rates this past year — Arizona’s completion rates have been near the bottom of the states nationally, and officials are hoping to improve on that.
This effort comes as states try different strategies to encourage students and their families to complete the FAFSA — including, in some cases, giving them the opportunity to win stuff.
Judy Reno, director of the College Depot at Phoenix Public Library, joined The Show to discuss what she's been seeing when people come in for help filling out the FAFSA.
Full conversation
JUDY RENO: Well, we've been helping with FAFSA for the past 15 years, so we've seen it all over the years. Last year's FAFSA was definitely the most challenging, switching to an entirely new system with glitches. And I'm happy to report that our team was able to work through those glitches and help families one by one, certainly extended our FAFSA season. You know, traditionally we would be done with FAFSA by spring. And this time we spent our entire summer helping with FAFSA interventions.
MARK BRODIE: What were the numbers like in terms of the number of students who were looking to fill this out relative to maybe the numbers who are looking for help in past years?
RENO: So our goal, you know, we at College Depot at Phoenix Public Library are part of Arizona's FAFSA Coalition. And we work together as a state to try to get as many students and families to complete the FAFSA as possible to unlock those federal student aid dollars.
This year was challenging. We were in the bottom of the country in terms of FAFSA completion rates and that was definitely disheartening and extended our season. But we really banded together as a community to get those FAFSAs done. And now I'm happy to report that Arizona is in the top states for FAFSA ID creation. So we're entering this new FAFSA season really strong as a state.
BRODIE: What will the new beta testing that the state is doing, like how will that maybe impact the number of students who complete this form?
RENO: The beta testing has actually been going well. We were able to assist some of the local high schools that we partner with. Bioscience High School and Central High School were both part of the beta test, and we had more than a 90% success rate in completion. So it was nice to be able to experience working with this new FAFSA before it opened, which now it is live and out of beta testing. So, here we go.
BRODIE: Did you find that it was less glitchy than the previous one?
RENO: Absolutely. Anything really is less glitchy than the previous one. But we're thrilled to see that. It really is much more straightforward. There are still some issues that we're seeing and so our team meets every Tuesday morning to kind of brainstorm, “What are we all seeing? How do we support each other and our families?” And kind of learn what the kinks are so that we can help our families overcome them.
BRODIE: So obviously, the, the people that you're working with are ones who are interested in filling out this form. It's sort of a self-selecting group. But I'm wondering when they come to you and they're experiencing challenges or difficulties, what are some of the challenges they're faced with? Like what is impeding them from actually completing this?
RENO: That's a great question. And it really goes across the board. A lot of the biggest challenges we've seen are for multi-status families. If the parents do not have Social Security numbers, it was a much more challenging process and continues to seem to be the biggest challenge for us for this coming year as well.
BRODIE: It sounds like it's not so much like not knowing the answers or it being technical challenges. It's more of like an almost, it sounds like a policy issue that, that students and their families are having to overcome here.
RENO: I would say both because there are some strange technical issues as well. You know, one thing that we already notice is that the student has to complete and sign their portion and before the parents are able to access it. So there are some technical barriers that we're noticing as well, but easy to resolve.
BRODIE: What do you hear from some of the folks who are working with the students about, I'm curious about like people who just don't bother even trying to fill it out because as you mentioned, Arizona had been in the bottom of completion rates nationally. So I'm curious like what you hear and what some of your colleagues here from, from students who maybe start the process and don't complete it or just don't even bother starting it.
RENO: We've definitely seen a lot of that, especially this summer. We have a data sharing agreement with Phoenix Union High School District. And so we worked very diligently all summer to reach out to students who either had not started their FAFSA or like you said, had begun the process and not finished it.
And we were able to increase the FAFSA completion rate significantly over the summer by doing that outreach campaign to families in that situation who had given up because they had hit so many glitches and we said, “hey, we know how to get you through this. Give us another try.”
BRODIE: Was it mostly students who were familiar with the process, and as you say, had run into some kind of either a technical difficulty or some other kind of difficulty? Did you find that there were students who didn't even know this was an option for them?
RENO: I feel like in Arizona we've really gotten the word out to families, high schools are doing a really great job of making families aware that the FAFSA is the opportunity to unlock financial aid opportunities. So I believe the awareness is there.
I think there was just so many families who were hitting those glitches, you know, trying to call the hotline and not getting through, getting hung, hung up on in the hotline. And we've all been through that and that's terrible. And so it can really deter families from getting through the process.
BRODIE: I'm curious what you make of, of some of the steps that other states have taken to try to increase their rates. There are some states, for example, where it's a requirement to graduate high school that you have to fill out the FAFSA. You know, some states have lotteries where, you know, students can win things if they fill out the FAFSA. Like in your experience, talking to people both here and elsewhere, like do those things matter? Do they make a difference at all?
RENO: They absolutely do. You know, if you look at the National College Attainment Network, they have a list of best practices nationally, of things that states can do. And we've seen some real payoff from there. And so we are working together with the Arizona FAFSA Coalition to try to make this process more exciting for families and get more families to complete the process.
BRODIE: Does it seem as though there are some efforts that are more successful than others in terms of trying to get more students and their families to fill these out?
RENO: I think it really does make a difference on which community you're in. You know, sometimes we even see really great results in small local communities where there's a partnership with the local community college, for example, and they host after-hours events with parties and inviting families and having a really nice community feel we've seen. Those are some of the bright spots in Arizona and we've tried to replicate that as well.
