How States Can Help Address the Challenges Around Implementing FAFSA Completion Policies

Studying Universal FAFSA in Texas 

In 2021, AIR received a research grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences to study the implementation of Texas’s financial aid completion policy. Texas adopted its policy in 2019 and was the second state to do so. 

From 2021 to 2023, AIR researchers interviewed Texas high school principals and counselors, directors of education service centers, and staff in financial aid offices at community colleges and universities. 

Early signs indicate the Texas financial aid completion policy is producing some desired results, such as more students completing the FAFSA, more awareness of financial aid, and additional benefits to students.

Research shows that high school students who complete a FAFSA, or free application for federal student aid, are significantly more likely to enroll and remain in college than students who do not. For many students, completing the FAFSA is a critical first step in obtaining the financial aid they need to afford college. The federal government uses the FAFSA to determine student eligibility for federal Pell Grants, Stafford Loans, and work-study opportunities. Additionally, most states and postsecondary institutions use the FAFSA to make decisions about need-based aid they provide to students. 

By the end of 2023, 12 states had adopted some form of policy making completion of the FAFSA a requirement to graduate high school and offer supports to help students through the application process.

An AIR mixed methods study of Texas’s universal FAFSA requirement, plus recent developments in Louisiana, indicate a potential hurdle for implementing such requirements. In Texas, 60% of school counselors AIR surveyed say their workload has changed because of the requirement. In Louisiana, the first state to adopt a FAFSA requirement, the administrative burdens of implementing the policy contributed to the state’s decision to repeal its FAFSA completion policy in March 2024. This occurred despite the state seeing impressive gains in FAFSA completion rates and other benefits for students.

There are also complications on a national level. In 2024, the federal government introduced an updated FAFSA form, hoping to simplify the process. However, technical glitches and other errors led to even fewer applications than before. The changes to the form have introduced yet another potential hurdle for school counselors helping students complete the form.

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Graphic: Survey, FAFSA Graduation Requirement

 

Easing Administrative Burdens and Implementation Challenges 

Based on what interviewees told us in our study in Texas, here are some ways that states can provide supports to help lighten the load of school counselors and address other common challenges in implementing FAFSA completion policies. 

Improve communication and outreach about federal and state financial aid and the application process: 

  • Provide common contacts to improve coordination across organizations involved in the process; 
  • Establish deliberate communication and collaboration between universities, community-based organizations, and high schools; and 
  • Assign dedicated staff at universities to provide outreach to high schools to help answer questions, provide updates, and coordinate family events. 

Create targeted informational and educational resources that are broadcast to and accessible by staff, students, and families, in English, Spanish, and other preferred languages. This could be a shared website providing communication, materials, and resources for counselors, students, and families, such as: 

  • A one-page flyer or infographic highlighting the evidence base showing how completing the FAFSA supports student outcomes; 
  • A statewide handout or flipbook on the application process and its benefits; 
  • A step-by-step guide or flowchart on how to fill out the form, including the types of responses needed for each item; 
  • Standard presentation slides that counselors can use and share with families;
  • Application training modules for counselors, students, and families; 
  • Timely updates on upcoming changes to the form, application process, timelines, etc.; 
  • FAQs with explanations about extenuating circumstances that allow students to opt out (e.g., homelessness, undocumented status, living with extended family, refugee/asylee status); and
  • Documented best practices and successful strategies that have worked in other districts. 

Offer targeted training for school counselors to improve their understanding of financial aid and to document and monitor application completions: 

  • Mandatory financial aid training for counselors and principals to increase consistency in communication and information about financial aid, application updates, data security, and how to discuss the information with students and parents; 
  • Situational training to better understand how to navigate unique family situations;
  • Training on the opt-out form and when and how to use it; and 
  • Better verification and tracking tools, developed for tracking the graduation requirement. 
     

What’s Next

AIR will spend the next year analyzing student-level data in the Texas Education Research Center to determine whether the Texas financial aid completion policy is meeting the state’s broader efforts to increase the number of students who complete college and reduce students’ college debt. We will explore the associations between the financial aid application requirement and student outcomes, including the amount of aid students received and their 2- and 4-year college enrollment and persistence. 


References

Aud, S., Wilkinson-Flicker, S., Kristapovich, P., Rathbun, A., Wang, X., & Zhang, J. (2013). The Condition of Education 2013 (NCES 2013-037). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC. 

Bettinger, E., Long, B. T., Oreopoulos, P., & Sanbonmatsu, L. (2012). The role of application assistance and information in college decisions: Results from the H&R Block FAFSA experiment. Quarterly Journal of Economics 127(3), 1205–1242. 

Chen, X., Duprey, M. A., Ritchie, N. S., Caves, L. R., Pratt, D. J., Wilson, D. H., Brown, F. S., & Leu, K. (2020). High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) A first look at the postsecondary transcripts and student financial aid records of fall 2009 ninth-graders (NCES 2020-003). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. 

McKinney, L., & Novak, H. (2015). FAFSA filing among first-year college students: Who files on time, who doesn’t, and why does it matter? Research in Higher Education, 56(1), 1–28.