The Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) has created a platform to help guidance counselors increase FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) completion rates in schools as part of their efforts to improve postsecondary attainment .
In Arizona, high school students who meet the minimum requirements (16 courses and a 3.0 GPA, although NAU plans to pilot a modified admissions program this fall) are guaranteed admission to one of three state colleges. The Arizona Promise Program ABOR, introduced last year, goes even further, allowing all Pell-qualified resident students to attend state colleges without having to pay tuition or fees.
However, to access the Promise program, students must complete FAFSA, and currently only 30% of students in Arizona (29% in Coconino County) are required to complete FAFSA, according to ABOR Academic Affairs. and Chad Sampson, Vice President of Institutional Analysis.
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As cited in the announcement of ABOR’s new platform, Arizona College Connect, National College Attainment Network data shows that Arizona high school seniors who do not complete FAFSA will receive an additional $104 million from Pell. was eligible to raise funds for
ABOR staff have been working on various strategies this year to increase FAFSA completion rates, including the FAFSA Challenge and the Pilot Peer Coach Program. The College Connect platform, released in November 2022 and announced earlier this month, is the latest effort.
This platform is intended to be an easily accessible way for guidance counselors to track FAFSA completion in schools. Counselors can check the student’s progress on her FAFSA (for example, missing signatures or interrupted mid-application), as well as the school’s completion rate, FAFSA toolkit, and other ABOR assistance for her. Can view programs.
Julie Sainz, director of the FAFSA and College Access Initiative, said there are plans to continue adding FAFSA and college performance data.
“FAFSA is just the starting point,” she said. A counselor visits her about all things FAFSA and college application. ”
College Connect was designed specifically for high school guidance counselors, Sampson said, because counselors can have a significant impact on a student’s college-going decision. He hoped the platform would make some of their jobs easier.
“Guidance counselors now have a huge number of duties in most high schools and they have to work with a huge number of students, so we didn’t want to burden them any further,” he said. “We wanted to add tools to make their jobs easier and more effective. That’s really the design behind it.”
So far, about 250 schools have partnered with ABOR to use College Connect, with 80% of their guidance counselors accessing the platform. Flagstaff has schools such as Coconino High School, Flagstaff High School, Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy and BASIS Flagstaff.
Sainz said the goal of Polaris is to eventually reach 100 percent FAFSA completion. Although she expected it would take time to reach that goal, the platform’s initial level of participation was promising.
One of the main barriers Sainz saw in completing FAFSA was a common myth among students, especially that students were not eligible for aid.
“Arizona College Connect debunks these myths and raises awareness that all students can qualify for financial aid. [and that] There are also different types of financial aid,” she said. “We want to make it well known and make sure students know about this application and the opportunities it can unlock for college.”
Both said they hoped the number of counselors using College Connect would expand and that the tool would eventually increase FAFSA completion and postsecondary attainment across Arizona.
“This is so that more students can receive help to complete the FAFSA and receive support to make all their applications and efforts to college intact,” Sainz said. …just to really close the gap and make sure they have this equal opportunity.”
Samson added her hopes for guidance counselors:
“They have a heavy burden on their shoulders. We are giving them the tools to do what we do and help them improve FAFSA completion and send more children to college.” I want them to understand what I do,” he said.
For more information on Arizona College Connect, please visit: azregents.edu/programs/arizona-college-connect
The Flagstaff Mall gave away $10,000 to eight Flagstaff schools at the Elevate My School contest awards ceremony Wednesday morning. The competition encouraged friends and family of students to shop at Flagstaff malls and submit receipts to their parent organizations to earn points in the competition. This contest was held to encourage people to shop locally instead of online.
