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SALT LAKE CITY — This year's Free Application for Federal Student Aid cycle has been anything but normal.
From the delayed rollout of a brand-new application to glitches and technical errors for students and parents trying to fill out the online form, there's no way around it.
Despite the complications, it still isn't too late to fill out and submit the FAFSA — essentially "free" money for higher education — and the Utah System of Higher Education is pushing to get more Utah students to do so, announcing Wednesday it was awarded $300,000 from the Educational Credit Management Corporation to support the FAFSA Help Initiative.
Related:
Utah high school seniors are missing out on millions of dollars in free college aid
Utah has the second lowest FAFSA completion rate in the country, meaning the state's high school seniors left $42 million of free Pell Grant money on the table in 2022.The initiative aims to help Utah families and students complete the FAFSA for the 2024-25 academic year and the award will help the higher education system boost its efforts and reach even more families.
"FAFSA funds are critical for many students to access higher education, and we are deeply grateful to the Department of Education and ECMC for this generous award," Geoffrey Landward, USHE Commissioner of Higher Education, said in a statement. "With this funding, we can significantly expand our initiatives to help more students complete the FAFSA and successfully transition to college."
More specifically, the award will be put towards outreach efforts that will include Utah's education system amplifying FAFSA awareness through social media advertisements, reaching out to influencers (students who have filled out the FAFSA) and the eventual buildout of an artificial intelligence chatbot to help people navigate the FAFSA process, according to Trisha Dugovic, director of communications for Utah's higher education system.
Not too late to apply
Although most institution are only accepting applications until August for the 2024 fall semester, Dugovic said that it's still not too late to apply for FAFSA funds.
So far, only 31.79% of Utah high school seniors had completed the FAFSA as of July, down 10% from the previous cycle, according to data from the National FAFSA Tracker. This also marks the second-lowest completion rate in the nation with Alaska coming in as the lone state trailing Utah.
But simply filling out the free application can also qualify students for other types of financial aid.
"We just want to let students know that it's not too late to apply and to see if they can qualify for FAFSA and ... how many more opportunities for funding they can get just by filling it out, even if they don't get that grant funding," Dugovic said. "It allows them to receive work study (part-time campus jobs with flexible schedules) or qualifies them for other federal loans and also qualifies them for other scholarships and other grant funding."
Fill out the FAFSA application online, and for additional information or assistance with the FAFSA process, visit ushe.edu/fafsa/.
