High school seniors are more likely to attend college if they complete the federal financial aid form known as the FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
But the state that was the first to require students to fill out the form to graduate, Louisiana, has reversed course and dropped the mandate, after state officials decided it was too intrusive. For now, Louisiana appears to be an outlier.
“I have not heard of other states considering repeal,” said Bill DeBaun, senior director of data and strategic initiatives with the National College Attainment Network, a nonprofit organization working to expand college access. (The network prefers to call such practices “universal FAFSA” policies, rather than “mandatory,” because all states with the requirement allow students and their parents to opt out if they don’t want to fill out the form.)
“We know FAFSA completion and enrollment are associated with each other,” Mr. DeBaun said. Filing the form allows students to get their share of federal grants.
At least 11 other states followed Louisiana’s lead and adopted similar policies or are scheduled to apply them in coming years, he said.
Unlike Louisiana, where education officials adopted the requirement as an administrative policy effective in 2018, many of the other states enacted it by law, so rescinding it would require legislative action, said Peter Granville, a fellow at the Century Foundation, a think tank, who studies federal and state efforts to increase college access and affordability.
Louisiana’s action came as a surprise, Mr. Granville said, because its policy had been “remarkably” successful, raising the state’s FAFSA completions more than 20 percent in just one year and narrowing the filing gap between high- and low-income school districts. The state ended last year’s filing cycle first in FAFSA completions, according to the college attainment network’s tracker.
The FAFSA is administered by the Education Department. It collects financial details from students and their families and is used to determine if they qualify for federal aid like need-based Pell grants, student loans and work-study programs to help pay for college. States and colleges also use the form to award their own grants and scholarships. Students, with their parents, file the form when applying to college and resubmit it each year they are enrolled.
This year, the FAFSA filing process has been plagued by delays, administrative errors and technical problems. A major revamp of the form and its financial aid formula, meant to simplify the form and make more grant aid available for students, went badly awry, making it difficult for many students to file the form. As of April 12, the number of high school seniors completing a FAFSA nationally was down 36 percent from a year earlier, according to the attainment network’s analysis of federal data.
States with universal filing policies were put under added pressure because of the FAFSA problems, Mr. DeBaun said. Some states are creating workarounds. Texas said that this year, proof of simply submitting a FAFSA would meet the requirement.
The messy FAFSA overhaul, however, wasn’t mentioned as a factor when the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education repealed the requirement on March 6. At a committee meeting the day before the vote, Cade Brumley, Louisiana’s superintendent of education, cited concerns about requiring parents to share financial information with the federal government and said graduation should be tied to academic criteria — and not depend on filling out financial aid forms or waivers.
Students will still receive financial aid information from school counselors, Dr. Brumley said, but won’t have to wait for their parents to fill out the FAFSA to graduate. “Basically, it’s moving it from an opt out to an opt in,” he told the full board.
Dr. Brumley, who became superintendent in 2020 and was reappointed in January, said in an interview that being seen as a state leader in FAFSA completions wasn’t necessarily positive if it meant “invading the privacy of families” or increasing student debt.
“We are simply trying to protect the liberty of our families,” he said.
He noted that the state last year passed legislation requiring high school students to take a financial literacy course, which will include information on loans and managing debt, starting with the class of 2026-27.
Caroline Roemer, executive director of the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools, told the board that she worried that without the requirement, the state would “go back to the bottom of the list” of FAFSA completion rankings. Before the policy was enacted, she said, fewer than half of Louisiana’s high school seniors completed the form.
Louisiana’s FAFSA completion rate for the 2014-15 school year was about 48 percent, compared with a national rate of 55 percent, according to a 2016 state report. (The state board adopted the policy in 2015, and it took effect in the 2017-18 school year.)
Ms. Roemer said in an interview that she was disappointed that the committee had jettisoned the requirement, especially since families could opt out: “You could say no.” One reason for the policy, she said, was to make sure that minority students received proper counseling about financial aid and post-high school opportunities.
“Black and brown kids were not getting the information,” she said. “We have a history.”
Asked about that, Dr. Brumley said guidance given to school systems “is colorblind.”
Mia Gonzales Washington, director of the New Orleans College and Career Attainment Network, an initiative of the Cowen Institute at Tulane University that offers professional development for high school counselors, teachers and other professionals, said the repeal was “unfortunate.” Most financial information requested on the FAFSA is also included in federal tax returns, which can be transferred into the form, she said.
If you are filing tax returns, “the government already has your financial information,” she added. “It’s really difficult to understand the rationale.”
Here are some questions and answers about the FAFSA and college financial aid:
What states have universal FAFSA policies?
In addition to Louisiana, where the policy remains in place for this year’s graduating class, at least six other states have a requirement tied to graduation: Illinois, Alabama, Texas, California, Indiana and New Hampshire, according to the attainment network. Four states — Connecticut, Nebraska, New Jersey and Oklahoma — plan to require it starting with the class of 2025, and Kansas is scheduled to begin a requirement in 2028.
In New York, the budget just approved by the Legislature includes a plan to require school districts to make sure all students complete federal or state financial aid forms, or sign a waiver stating that they are “aware of available aid but choose not to pursue it,” according to a news release from Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office. (School districts will enforce the rule. If students do not fill out the application or opt out, they will still be able to graduate.) The policy takes effect in August, for the class of 2025.
What about financial aid packages this year for graduating high school seniors?
Because of the botched FAFSA update, many students and families are still waiting for official financial aid offers, even as the traditional May 1 deadline for committing to a college approaches. A survey of members of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators this month suggested that fewer than half of colleges had sent out aid offers to some or all accepted students, and that 44 percent had not begun packaging offers at all. Some schools have extended their commitment deadlines to give students time to review offers.
How much does it cost to attend college?
The turmoil around the FAFSA comes amid growing concern about student debt and the cost of attending college. The average published, or “sticker,” price for tuition, fees, housing and meals at a four-year private college was $56,190 for the 2023-24 school year, compared with about $24,000 for an in-state student at a public college, according to the College Board. The published cost of a year at some private colleges is soon to reach $100,000, although most students don’t pay full price because of financial aid and discounts.
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