One quarter of high school students don鈥檛 fill out the federal form they need to get financial aid, according to a new study. And the biggest reason they don鈥檛 is that many think their families can afford college without that support.
The new , follows students who were freshmen in the fall of 2009. Sixty-five percent of those students completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. Twenty-four percent didn鈥檛. The remaining 11 percent didn鈥檛 know what a FAFSA was or if they finished it.
Here are the reasons students cited for not filling out the FAFSA:
- Didn鈥檛 think they needed the aid to afford college (33 percent)
- Thought they might not qualify for financial aid (32 percent)
- Didn鈥檛 want to take on debt (28 percent)
- Didn鈥檛 have enough information about how to complete a FAFSA (23 percent)
- Didn鈥檛 plan to continue their education after high school (22 percent)
- Didn鈥檛 know they could complete a FAFSA (15 percent)
- Thought FAFSA forms take too much time or work (9 percent)
Delving into why students don鈥檛 fill out the FAFSA could fuel solutions to one of the big barriers to college: obtaining the loans or grants that make it affordable. Every year, students leave millions of available aid dollars untouched.
Federal officials have been working on this problem for years. They鈥檝e shortened and simplified the FAFSA process and recently debuted a .
The new federal report showed that race and parents鈥� education levels shaped patterns of FAFSA completion. Black and Hispanic students, and students whose parents had a high school education or less, were far more likely to say they didn鈥檛 have enough information about how to do the FAFSA.
The National College Access Network has tracked FAFSA patterns for years. The new data echoed some of what it鈥檚 seen in its own research. Students often don鈥檛 understand what makes them eligible for financial aid, and often think they鈥檙e ineligible when they鈥檙e not, said NCAN鈥檚 policy director, Carrie Warick.
鈥淭hey are self-selecting out before they even get to a point where they鈥檇 discover how long the form is,鈥� she said in an email.
Warick said she thinks NCES鈥� 65 percent completion rate could be a bit high because it鈥檚 based on survey data. When they鈥檙e asked if they completed a FAFSA, some students might say they did, but be unaware that they鈥檇 skipped a step, Warick said.
, and they鈥檙e more sobering than the ones in the new federal report. Of 2018 high school graduates, 61 percent submitted a FAFSA. In 2015, that rate was 57 percent. The NCES study focused on the class of 2013.
Photo: Getty Images