Applications for college financial aid approaching 2023 levels, but gains are uneven

Jul. 7—GRAND FORKS — The share of North Dakota's high school seniors applying for federal student financial aid is near 2023 levels, but the gap between poor and wealthy students continues to widen.

Just over 40% of the class of 2024 has completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid as of June 21, close to the number of last year's seniors, according to data compiled by the National College Attainment Network.

The gap in completions between wealthy and poor schools has more than doubled from last year, however.

North Dakota University System officials say the state will use federal funds for a direct outreach program to encourage students, particularly lower-income students, to complete the FAFSA.

FAFSA completions are down nationwide following the botched rollout of an overhauled version of the financial aid form that was meant to simplify the process for students.

At the end of March, the share of North Dakota's high school seniors filling out the FAFSA was down nearly 30% compared to the same time the year before.

FAFSA completions have continued to improve since then, with the share of seniors filling out the FAFSA now down only 4.0% as of June 21.

Brenda Zastoupil, NDUS director of financial aid, attributes the narrowing gap to state efforts like the "Finish the FAFSA Week" proclamation issued by Gov. Doug Burgum in April.

"When the proclamation went out, we were down 25% on completed FAFSA submissions, so there has been movement," Zastoupil said. "We are still down, but there are things that have been accomplished since the end of April and now to get us in a better position."

Those gains have not been distributed evenly, however.

Wealthier schools, where fewer than 30% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals through the National School Lunch Program, have made up the most ground.

In North Dakota's wealthiest schools, where less than 10% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, FAFSA completions are now nearly 20% higher than in 2023.

Schools with a greater share of low-income students, on the other hand, are down as much as 60%.

According to June 14 NCAN data, there's now a more than 40-point gap in FAFSA completions between schools where less than 10% of students qualify for federal free and reduced-price meals and where 100% of students qualify.

The same time last year, that gap was 16.6 percentage points.

"When we work in these schools, what we see is kids that just are hearing it's too hard, there's too many problems, they're not going to be able to get the money to go to school," said Derek Sporbert, director of UND's TRIO programs. "There's just been problem after problem."

Sporbert pointed to a fiscal year 2025 appropriations bill authored by House Republicans and released last week that would cut funding for federal work-study programs by 50%.

"Kids are just like, 'it's not worth it, there's no money for me to go here,'" he said.

NDUS has been awarded just under $100,000 in federal grant money to boost FAFSA completion in North Dakota this summer, said NDUS Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs Lisa Johnson.

Those funds are expected to be spent on direct mailings, public service announcements and paid advertising directed at recent high school graduates and returning college students.

Johnson said the state's outreach will target high school graduates of lower-income schools and schools where less than 40% of students have filled out the FAFSA, and direct them to college financial aid offices for help filling out the financial aid form.

The state is aiming for another 300-plus students to fill out the FAFSA this summer; 3,583 students have completed the FAFSA as of June 21.

The state higher education's system response has included webinars run by the Bank of North Dakota and "FAFSA nights" at North Dakota high schools prior to the new FAFSA's rollout, as well as the Finish the FAFSA Week.

Those programs haven't specifically targeted low-income students up until this point, and the state has not been tracking FAFSA completion rates by students' economic status, Johnson said.

"I know that's part of the grand plan, but leading up to it I don't know that NDUS tracked schools down to that level of granularity," Johnson said.

It's unclear whether the gap in overall FAFSA completion will affect enrollment in state institutions. Johnson said preliminary data indicates fall enrollment across NDUS institutions is tracking at around the same levels as the previous year.

Janelle Kilgore, UND's vice provost of strategic enrollment management, wrote in an email the university does not have data showing more admitted students are dropping out for financial reasons compared to prior years.

Likewise, North Dakota State University Director of Financial Aid David Sanchez said he had not heard directly from students who had dropped out because of concerns about their financial aid award.