When Gov. Greg Abbott , in addition to increasing school funding and approving teacher raises, he also approved a requirement for all Texas high school seniors to fill out an application for federal or state financial aid for college.
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, is an application to see whether a student qualifies for loans, scholarships, grants or work study. As the name suggests, it's free to apply 鈥� but a lot of students don't.
鈥淪tudents make assumptions based on what they鈥檝e heard from either counselors or other students,鈥� says Jaime Ayala, the student success coordinator at Foundation Communities' College Hub. He regularly advises students in Austin on how to fill out the form.
鈥淪ome students just think, 鈥極h, no, we make too much and we鈥檙e not gonna qualify,鈥�" he says, "or 鈥業 don鈥檛 want student loans; I don鈥檛 want to do FAFSA because I don鈥檛 want loans.鈥欌��
鈥� that鈥檚 just under the national average. Students who don鈥檛 fill out the form are leaving a lot of money on the table, specifically from federal Pell Grants, which don鈥檛 have to be paid back. According to the personal finance website NerdWallet, the high school class of 2018 nationwide missed out on in free money for college.
Texas and Louisiana are the only states that now require students to apply.
鈥淚 think that the requirement to complete the FAFSA is a good one,鈥� says Isaac Torres, the director of high school, college and career success at the E3 Alliance, a nonprofit that focuses on how education impacts the economy in Central Texas. 鈥淔or an increasing number of low-income, first-generation students, it鈥檚 going to be that critical first step that gets them to enroll full time and complete their degree on time.鈥�
Torres says he hopes a higher FAFSA completion rate means more students will receive financial aid and more students will finish their degrees.
鈥淏ecause every job, really, in 2020 that pays a living wage requires some type of post-secondary credential,鈥� he says.
Louisiana was the first state to require its students to complete the FAFSA, and it now has the highest rate of students filling out the form in the country. But Texas is seven times the size of Louisiana, and many students here will need help filling out the form.
鈥淭hat means more manpower 鈥� to sit with students and sort of understand these applications and help them fill them out,鈥� Ayala says.
John Fitzpatrick, executive director of Educate Texas, advocated for the law, but says he knows school districts across the state will need help to meet this mandate.
鈥淲e know that many school counselors are overburdened,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e handling a lot of 鈥� not just college applications and FAFSA 鈥� but social-emotional learning and helping students navigate their lives. So we need to figure out what combination of manpower and technology support can support counselors.鈥�
He says that will require a lot of planning to prepare for the 2020-2021 school year, when the law goes into effect.
And there鈥檚 another hurdle: According to one estimate, Texas has the in the country. To complete the FAFSA, students must share their citizenship status, as well as their parents鈥� Social Security numbers. Ayala says that can scare students who are citizens but whose parents aren鈥檛.
鈥淥ftentimes we see that students may have a parent who is undocumented," he said. "They鈥檙e afraid to disclose that information" 鈥� or anything immigration related 鈥� out of fear that their family could get deported."
Right now, he advises those students not to fill out anything they aren鈥檛 comfortable with. The law says families can opt out.
Undocumented students aren鈥檛 eligible for federal aid, but they are eligible for state aid. To get that aid, they must fill out the Texas Application for Free Financial Aid (TAFSA).
Under the law, the state is required to set up a commission to make a detailed plan on how to support schools with new mandate.
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