After two years of delays and glitches, the FAFSA form will open on time this year. Arizona and student advocates hope the standard starting date will improve completion rates.
Since 2016, the form would become available on Oct. 1 for the following school year, but the 2023 and 2024 forms weren't open until December. To mandate the Oct. 1 opening, Congress passed the FAFSA Deadline Act in December 2024.
The Arizona Board of Regents announced its 50 by Fall campaign in early September, which encourages Arizona schools to sign a pledge to reach a 50% statewide FAFSA completion rate by Dec. 31. If a school reaches a 50% completion rate by its seniors before the deadline, they are eligible to receive financial rewards.
Students who complete the FAFSA are 84% more likely to enroll in a college, said Julie Sainz, the director of FAFSA and college access initiatives at ABOR.
Arizona has historically ranked among the lowest states for FAFSA completion, Sainz said. With a completion rate of nearly 46% from the last form, the state currently ranks as the ninth lowest.
Sainz said ABOR wants to increase awareness of how FAFSA "can unlock doors" to affording college and "provide the statewide resources that we have really revamped over these few years."
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs encouraged school leadership to pursue the 50 by Fall goals in a video message.
"Your efforts to help students complete the FAFSA turn the tide, unlocking millions of dollars in federal aid for postsecondary education," Hobbs said in the video. "By helping students complete the FAFSA, you're paving paths to help our students find careers in health care, tech, engineering, teaching and more, building a workforce that powers Arizona's prosperity."
Members of the Arizona Students' Association said past problems have hindered FAFSA completion.
"Once (the FAFSA opening) had gotten pushed up (to December), it was basically making it impossible for folks to apply to a school and be able to hear about any potential financial aid that they would get before they could decide whether or not to go to the school," said Miranda Lopez, the southern regional director of ASA.
ASA Central Regional Director Alberto Plantillas, an ASU graduate student studying public policy, echoed this sentiment but attributed many of the delays to errors with the website.
"Some people were waiting on the FAFSA until March of last year because of all the glitches," Plantillas said. "A lot of seniors are expecting to already have a lot of those responses from the universities (they apply to) by closer to that time."
Plantillas said the glitches are still his biggest concern for this year's form.
In early August, students who opted in at Corona Del Sol High School could beta test the FAFSA for technical glitches, ensuring it is student-friendly.
"I'm happy to report that during that testing, we did not have any technical issues arise," Sainz said.
Besides website glitches, some students faced a different challenge.
"I know a lot of students, especially those from immigrant families or who have undocumented parents, they were having so many issues with being able to get their financial aid processed in time," Lopez said.
Plantillas said some parts of the form made students fill out Social Security numbers for both them and their parents, which made it harder for students with guardians lacking legal permanent status to complete the form.
The challenges of completing the FAFSA can create barriers to entering higher education, Plantillas said. That's especially difficult for incoming college freshmen who have no prior experience with the form.
"People can definitively say that there was some enrollment effects (from) the FAFSA delays over the past couple years because a lot of students are very dependent on FAFSA, especially in Arizona," Plantillas said.
A University spokesperson said students are encouraged to complete the FAFSA as soon as possible to determine eligibility for federal financial aid, need-based aid or external scholarships.
Resources to help students complete the form are available at College Ready AZ. The site includes Arizona College Connect, a tracking tool for FAFSA progress, and the FAFSA Peer Coach Program, which allows users to help other students through the process.
Sainz said it should only take about 10 to 15 minutes for students and their families to complete the form this year.
"In the past, there's probably been a stigma around FAFSA being a difficult form," Sainz said. "I can confidently say that this year, I think it's going to be a game-changer knowing that they've made a lot of improvements to it."
Edited by Carsten Oyer, Henry Smardo, Tiya Talwar and Pippa Fung.
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Emma Bradford is a junior studying journalism and mass communication and political science with a minor in business. She has previously worked at the Cronkite News Washington, D.C. bureau as a Politics and Money Reporter. Bradford is in her fourth semester with The State Press and on the politics desk.
