FAFSA submissions are surging in Texas

Texas is close to a record year for college-aid forms, with nearly 60% of Texas high school seniors already completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, about 8 percentage points higher than at the same point last year. A National College Attainment Network official told The Texas Tribune he would be “stunned” if Texas does not set an all-time high by June 30. (texastribune.org) That jump matters because the Free Application for Federal Student Aid is the main form that unlocks federal grants, state aid, and campus aid, and Texas seniors who skipped it last year left about $550 million in Pell Grant money on the table. Pell Grants are the federal government’s main cash award for lower-income students, and unlike loans, they do not have to be repaid. (texastribune.org) Texas has been pushing this for years. State law says public high school students must either file the federal form, file the Texas Application for State Financial Aid, or sign an opt-out form before they graduate. (tea.texas.gov) That graduation rule started with seniors in the 2021-22 school year, so families now hear about financial-aid paperwork the same way they hear about transcripts or vaccine records: as one more box that has to be checked before senior year ends. Texas school districts also have to report whether students met the requirement. (tea.texas.gov 1) (tea.texas.gov 2) Colleges have added another nudge by advertising “promise” programs that cover tuition after grants are applied, which gives families a clear reason to finish the form instead of treating it like optional paperwork. The Texas Tribune reported that advisers see those free-tuition campaigns as one reason completion is rising. (texastribune.org) But the rise is not reaching everyone evenly. Students in mixed-status families, where a student may be a U.S. citizen but a parent is undocumented, are still weighing whether giving family information to the federal government is worth the risk. (texastribune.org) That fear is colliding with a technical reality of the form itself. The federal application often requires parent details to calculate aid, so a student who is eligible for help can still feel blocked if a parent without a Social Security number worries that filling in personal information could expose the household. (texastribune.org) (nasfaa.org) Texas does have a separate backup lane for students who cannot use the federal form. The Texas Application for State Financial Aid is the state’s alternative application, and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board says it is available online and on paper in both English and Spanish. (highered.texas.gov) (reportcenter.highered.texas.gov) The catch is that a statewide average can hide a neighborhood problem. A state can post a record completion rate while students in immigrant-heavy schools quietly opt out, delay college, or never finish the process at all. (texastribune.org) So Texas now has two stories happening at once. One is a broad rebound in college-aid filing after last year’s national Free Application for Federal Student Aid mess; the other is a narrower trust problem that schools will not solve with reminder emails alone. (texastribune.org) (ncan.org) The next gains are likely to come from much smaller moves: bilingual workshops, one-on-one help for parents without Social Security numbers, and counselors who can explain when the state form is the right path. Texas has already built the statewide habit of filing for aid; the harder job now is making sure the last students left out are not the ones with the most to lose. (highered.texas.gov) (texastribune.org)