Not all university-bound seniors fill FAFSA. That’s the problem

A free application for student assistance, known as the FAFSA, allows access to university funding mountainous areas, but only 51% of seniors in high schools across the country completed it this year, according to the National College Attendance Network (NCAN).

Completing the FAFSA should be the first step for students looking for ways to attend college, but a significant percentage of high school seniors planning to attend college will not complete it. Completion rates in the 50s were the norm since 2018, except for DIPs up to 49.9% in 2024. By comparison, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that between 61% and 69% of recent high school graduates have been enrolled in college since 1993. Students who have not completed the FAFSA may unconsciously leave money at the table.

Why is the FAFSA completion rate low?

There is not just one reason why FAFSA completion rates are lower than the proportion of students attending university. It could be a mixture of misunderstandings, skepticism, lack of awareness, and a failed 2024 season, and students may not apply for federal aid. However, the issue in 2024 has been addressed since then, and the completion of the FAFSA form is the only way to qualify for thousands of dollars in financial aid and loans from the government.

Chaos 2024 FAFSA Season

Returning the FAFSA filer can be unsettling after the failed deployment of new forms and websites last year. It could have been one of the biggest drivers behind the low completion rate in 2024. Jill Dejan, Director of Policy Analysis for the National Association of Financial Aid Managers.

“THe is a lot, a lot of delay. A struggle that students had just navigating the site. It was very buggy,” she says. “A lot of people just couldn’t submit, and last year there was a big group of people who were simply locked out of filling FAFSAs in the longer parts of the cycle.”

Adding salt to the wounds left call centres in the understaffed education sector left 4 million people with unresponsive assistance, according to the government’s accountability department.

2025 What about FAFSA?

Much of the problems in 2024 were caused by major changes to applications and federal student aid websites made by the FAFSA Simplification Act. As these issues have been smoothed out, what remains is a simplified application. It has significantly fewer questions, a more user-friendly interface, more language options, and automatically filled with previously collected data.

“When it works, that’s right Dejan says. And it appears that applicants are giving the process a second chance. As of May 30, FAFSA completion for the 2025 class was 20% higher than the 2024 class at the same time last year, according to the Tracker. The completion rate in April was up to 62% higher.

Lack of consciousness and resources

Although 2024 was confusing, Dejan points out one of the positive outcomes that could have arisen from the catastrophe.

“FAFSA appeared in a lot of news last year,” she says. “It wasn’t good news, but it was the first time people who didn’t know that financial aid was available were learning about it. It may have introduced the concept of FAFSA and the idea that federal student aid can be used to universities.”

First generation students who didn’t ask for a way to pay because their parents didn’t consider the university, may be among those who don’t know federal student aid. And while many universities have dedicated financial aid offices, most high schools don’t have the resources to reach all students, especially low-income schools.

“If the staff at the guidance office are really overworked and attend high schools that have huge caseloads, they can’t sit one-on-one with their students (about financial aid) and make sure they know (about financial aid),” Dejan says.

This lack of resources is apparent when you look at the FAFSA tracker. This shows a 6% difference in completion rates at high-income high schools (54.1%) and low-income schools (48.1%), allowing more students to qualify for assistance.

Learn more about FAFSA

It is important to know that FAFSA is free to complete and there is a deadline. It opens on October 1st every year, and the deadline is June 30th, the academic year when aid is applied for. The deadline for FAFSA for the 2024-25 academic year is June 30, 2025. The earlier you apply for assistance, the better. Dejan said Pell grants and student loans are always available, but state and system aid is usually provided on a first come first served basis.

Furthermore, as Dejan says, “No one said it, you submitted your FAFSA early. ”

For more information about FAFSA, contact your high school counselor or the college’s financial aid office. You can also visit dusttainid.gov to find out more about it.

Not needed in most states

In 13 states, FAFSA completion is required for graduation, which can make a difference. Of the top 10 states with the most FAFSA completion, six are the requirements. Of the top five states, four require FAFSA completion. Additionally, more than half of states requiring FAFSA have a completion rate above the US average.

Desjean said mandating the completion of FAFSA might help people become more aware of it, but the state has to do more.

“They just hit the FAFSA completion requirement and can’t say, ‘Okay, our work is done here,'” she says. “It needs to be paired with outreach. Efforts need to be combined with a lot of support for students, not a barrier to graduation.”

If you live in a state that requires completion of the FAFSA, there may be more support for your students. Contact your local high school, career planning center, community college, or state department to see if there are FAFSA events nearby.

Why is it important to complete FAFSA?

FAFSA is a free financial aid and loan ticket that usually has an interest rate that is superior to your personal loan fee. Also, there is no minimum credit score requirement for direct loans, so it may be easier to qualify, especially if you have little credit history, like most high school seniors.

Without completing the FAFSA, you are not the following:

I’m eligible for free money

“I hope (more) people knew that financial aid wasn’t just about lending,” Dejan says. And there is no need to repay it, including federal grants and job research.

When Jack O’Connor, a business operations analyst at Bankrate, filled out the FAFSA in 2023, he wasn’t sure he was eligible.

“I still thought it was worth it, and my parents still thought it was worth filling out because you never know.”

And although he was not eligible for free aid, he still encourages students to give it a try. “I feel it’s pointless to simply not fill it out because if you’re qualified for it, it’s just leaving money at the table.”

He’s not wrong.

It’s not just the federal government that uses FAFSA to determine financial awards. Many states and universities also use it to decide whether to award student grants, scholarships, or system loans.

Eligible for federal student loans

Federal student loans are the money you have to pay back, but they often come with low interest rates and profits, such as income-driven repayment plans, patience, and forgiveness of potential student loans.

Federal government loans were the biggest draw for Bankrate Engineering Manager Jason Blaushot. He completed the FAFSA with two university students and his doctoral wife.

“What I was looking for was a relatively low interest rate on my loan,” he says. “Even if they’re unsubsidized loans, they’re usually a better alternative to private student loans.”

Browch liked the fact that the loan was in the child’s name and pointed out that if he was trying to get the loan himself elsewhere, he would have at least had to co-sign it. And even if they could qualify for student loans without a co-signer, they would probably get a high interest rate.

Federal loans have the same fixed interest rate. Regardless of the credit of the borrower, it is 6.39% of direct subsidies, and 7.94% of unsubsidized in 2024-25. “TWhen you pay something back for more than a decade, a hat is important,” he says.

Conclusion

Completion rates are compared to 2024, but ideally, students working at all universities should complete the FAFSA. If you haven’t done it yet, you still have time.

“Even if you didn’t think you’d get federal money, your school could still give you money,” says O’Connor, who provided more needs-based aid than merit-based. “And I don’t find it particularly difficult to fill out.