The Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) has created a platform that may assist steering counselors increase FAFSA (Free Software for Federal Scholar Support) completion charges at their faculties as a part of its efforts to extend postsecondary attainment.
In Arizona, highschool college students that meet minimal necessities (16 programs and a 3.0 GPA, although NAU will probably be piloting an adjusted admissions program this fall) are assured acceptance in certainly one of its three state universities. The Arizona Promise Program ABOR launched final 12 months goes even additional, permitting all Pell-eligible resident college students to attend a state college with no need to pay tuition or charges.
To entry the Promise Program, nevertheless, college students want to finish a FAFSA and at the moment, solely 30% of scholars in Arizona (29% in Coconino County) do, stated ABOR vp of educational affairs and institutional evaluation, Chad Sampson.
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As cited in ABOR’s announcement of its new platform, Arizona School Join, Nationwide School Attainment Community information reveals that Arizona highschool seniors who did not full the FAFSA have been eligible for an extra $104 million in Pell funding.
ABOR workers have been engaged on a wide range of methods this 12 months to lift FAFSA completion charges, together with the FAFSA Problem and the pilot peer coaches program. Its School Join platform, launched in November 2022 and introduced earlier this month, is the newest effort.
The platform is supposed to be an simply accessible method for steering counselors to maintain monitor of FAFSA completion at their college. Along with seeing college students’ progress on their FAFSA (in the event that they’re lacking a signature, for instance, or left off midway via the applying), counselors can view college completion charges, FAFSA toolkits and different ABOR help packages.
The plan is to proceed including FAFSA and faculty attainment information, stated Julie Sainz, director of FAFSA and faculty entry initiatives.
“FAFSA is only a beginning off level to it,” she stated, “however we do have greater plans for this portal to boost it and positively make it extra faculty attainment information in there as effectively. That method it is a go-to centralized hub for counselors to go to for all issues FAFSA and faculty attainment.”
The rationale School Join was designed particularly for highschool steering counselors is as a result of they are often so influential on a pupil’s choice to go to school, Sampson stated. He hoped the platform would make one a part of their work simpler.
“Steerage counselors have an incredible variety of duties now in most excessive faculties and an incredible variety of college students that they need to work with, so we didn’t wish to add yet one more factor to their burden,” he stated. “We wished so as to add a device for them to make their job simpler, to make it more practical and that’s actually the design behind it.”
To this point, round 250 faculties have partnered with ABOR to make use of School Join and steering counselors at 80% of these have accessed the platform. In Flagstaff, these faculties embrace Coconino Excessive Faculty, Flagstaff Excessive Faculty, Flagstaff Arts and Management Academy and BASIS Flagstaff.
The “north star” objective is to ultimately attain 100% FAFSA completion, Sainz stated. Whereas she anticipated reaching that objective would take time, the platform’s preliminary participation ranges confirmed promise.
One of many principal boundaries Sainz stated she noticed to FAFSA completion have been some widespread myths amongst college students, significantly that they wouldn’t qualify for assist.
“With the Arizona School Join, it is actually debunking these myths and elevating consciousness that any pupil can qualify for monetary assist [and that] there are numerous kinds of monetary assist as effectively,” she stated. “We wish to make that well-known and ensure that college students learn about this software and the alternatives it could possibly unlock for faculty.”
Each stated they hoped the advisors utilizing School Join would broaden and that the device would ultimately improve FAFSA completion and postsecondary attainment throughout Arizona.
“In order that extra college students have the help to finish the FAFSA and have the help to get all their college-going functions and efforts intact,” Sainz stated. “… Actually simply bridging the hole and ensuring that they’ve this equal alternative.”
Samson added his hopes for steering counselors:
“They’ve an incredible burden on their shoulders and we wish to ensure that they perceive that we’ll do what must be executed and provides them instruments to assist enhance FAFSA completion and getting extra children into faculty,” he stated.
Extra details about Arizona School Join may be discovered at azregents.edu/packages/arizona-college-connect
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