T-shirt advice: While the FAFSA can be a daunting task for future college students and their parents, they could receive one-on-one advice at College Goal on Nov. 5, 3017, at Ivy Tech. Tribune-Star file/ Austen Leake
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A bill to require Indiana’s high school seniors to complete FAFSA before graduation has passed out of the Indiana Senate by a 30-19 vote and is now headed to the House for consideration.
FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
Completing the FAFSA “is the most important step in the financial aid process and determines eligibility for both state of Indiana and federal financial aid,” according to INvested, an Indiana-based nonprofit that provides financial aid counseling to students and families.
Indiana’s high school class of 2021 missed out on an estimated $65 million in federal Pell grants, according to the National College Attainment Network. By not filling out FAFSA, they also miss out on state financial aid.
Indiana ranked in the bottom half of states last year for FAFSA completion, with 55.9% of seniors filing. Less than 60% of high school seniors nationally completed the FAFSA.
Indiana’s college going rate for the class of 2019 was 59%.
Senate Bill 82 is authored by State Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg.
Bill proponents say it could help open the doors to post-secondary education for those who think they can’t afford it.
That, in turn, can lead to better job opportunities and also make the state more competitive from an economic development standpoint.
But opponents worry that school staff would have to spend too much time tracking down families who don’t plan to seek financial aid. They favor other measures to promote FAFSA completion.
The issue is important to Indiana State University, which serves many first generation and Pell-eligible students, said Greg Goode, Indiana State University executive director of government relations.
Goode testified in favor of the bill before the Senate Education and Career Development committee; the bill passed unanimously out of committee.
Those from low income backgrounds, or those who would be first generation college students, are less likely to fill out the FAFSA, Goode said. The issue is particularly important at ISU, where about 45% of the freshman class are the first in their families to go to college.
This bill changes the FAFSA process from an opt in to an opt out, Goode said. There are ways to opt out — by parents, an emancipated student, and a school principal or counselor.
Goode chairs the Wabash River Regional Development Authority, an entity that represents six counties and includes five colleges and universities: ISU, Rose-Hulman, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, Ivy Tech and Vincennes.
As the region works to attract talent, spur development and increase population, “We’re going to have to have a strong workforce pipeline,” he said.
Completing FAFSA, applying to post-secondary programs and securing post-secondary credentials can open up life-changing opportunities and make Indiana more competitive from an economic development standpoint, Goode said.
The Indiana School Boards Association opposes the bill. “We find it a big administrative burden that we [schools] will have to police this mandate on parents to complete FAFSA,” said Terry Spradlin, ISBA executive director.
ISBA says, however, it supports the intent of the bill.
“We definitely want to work with the Commission (for Higher Education) and policy makers because we do want more kids to go to college. We want a greater number of residents in Indiana to have college credentials,” Spradlin said. “We know the benefit of that for quality of life and economic benefit for the state of Indiana.”
But ISBA is “more on the side of local control and incentives over mandates and administrative red tape,” he said. The bill would mean added administrative burdens at a time when staff and resources at the local level are already limited.
ISBA suggests high schools have two financial aid completion forums each year for the senior class, in cooperation with partnering agencies such as INvested. “We want to promote completion,” Spradlin said.
He offered it in committee testimony as a possible amendment to the bill. “We suggested these required forums would be less work and of more benefit than continually hounding parents to complete FAFSA or sign the waiver,” he said.
Last year, when the House dealt with a similar Senate FAFSA bill, it took out the mandate and instead put in an incentive plan to provide grant dollars to help promote FAFSA completion.
“We like that approach better,” Spradlin said.
The Indiana Chamber of Commerce supports the legislation, said Jason Bearce, the organization’s vice president of education and workforce development. It opens the door to financial aid, which can improve students’ job opportunities and upward mobility, he said. Also, a more educated workforce is important in getting companies to locate or expand in Indiana.
Companies gravitate to areas where citizens have higher levels of educational attainment.
“This is about growing our own and putting more people on a path to higher levels of education and economic mobility,” Bearce said.
Future changes are coming to the FAFSA.
Goode noted there has been a bipartisan federal effort to simply FAFSA; the form will go from about 108 questions to about 36.
It will be shortened for the 2024-25 FAFSA, which opens in October 2023, said Allison Kuehr, of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. Other changes are being rolled out in phases, but the shortening of the form will happen in the final phase, she said.
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