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Report Summary: Patterns in the filing of the FAFSA during the 2018-19 aid year
Publication Date: March 2019
A must-read for institutional leaders and national and state-level policymakers focused on improving access and affordability for post-secondary students.
College costs are a major access barrier to higher education—especially first generation and minority students. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) is key to reducing a student’s debt burden, in turn driving access. When students file the FAFSA can be just as important as if they do, where non-federal grant aid is concerned. Many state grant programs and institutional scholarships utilize FAFSA data, but these programs can also have fixed application deadlines or dispense funds on a first-come, first-served basis until resources have been depleted.
One thing CampusLogic does exceptionally well as a software company is help higher education institutions minimize “friction” in the financial aid process, from faster and clearer delivery of aid award letters to helping students quickly complete verification. A benefit to working with so many schools is that CampusLogic maintains a nationally-representative repository of federal student aid application data. This data set uniquely positions us to add rich quantitative insights, in ways that have not previously been possible. Purpose-driven to help schools change lives, these insights can help drive more and deeper discussion around everything from federal to state to institutional financial aid policy, but also explore broader scholarly issues around access, borrowing, and completion. We take privacy matters seriously. This report uses de-identified, aggregated data in accordance with applicable privacy laws.