Nearly
73% of Florida high school seniors fail to apply for federal college aid
~Interactive
map reveals rate at which students in state counties complete the FAFSA~
Tampa, FL –
As of March 15, nearly 73% of Florida high school seniors have failed to
complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). According to the
most up-to-date data released by the U.S. Department of Education’s FAFSA Completion Tool,
just 27.1% of Florida high school seniors had finished the key document which
secures them access to Pell Grants, federal loans and work-study jobs. A new interactive map
developed by the Florida College Access Network (Florida C.A.N.! ) charts the
FAFSA completion rates by county and allows viewers to see differences from
last year.
“The state deadline to
complete the FAFSA is May 15 and for several Florida higher education
institutions, their priority deadline has already passed. It’s not too late to
get money for college but you have to fill out the form,” said Braulio Colón,
executive director of Florida C.A.N.! “Florida has 204,629 high school seniors
but only 55,529 of these students have successfully completed
the FAFSA. That number is far too low. It means major grants and federal loans
are going unused by students who will need them to get a college education and
secure a future.”
Last year, the federal
government began offering access to its FAFSA Completion Tool which allowed
viewers to track how many students at each high school across the country are
completing the federal financial aid forms. Previously, high schools estimated
their FAFSA completion rate using self-reported surveys, which are often
unreliable. Both the FCAN map and the FAFSA Completion Tool will be updated
every two weeks.