About FAFSA Completion Challenge
NCAN has selected Mobile, AL among 25 U.S. cities to receive up to $40,000 each for the 2018-19 FAFSA Completion Challenge Grant. Through this project, generously funded by The Kresge Foundation and Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation & Affiliates, NCAN challenges each of the grant recipients to increase their FAFSA completion rates by at least 5 percentage points for the graduating high school class of 2019. In an effort to address equity gaps, this Challenge specifically focuses on cities with current FAFSA completion rates below the national average.
The 2018-19 competition builds on the success of the original Kresge-funded 2016-17 FAFSA Completion Challenge.
Want to go to college? First u haf-ta FAFSA!
A component of the Boosting College Knowledge campaign involves increasing college application submission rates among under-represented students. Many students don’t begin the enrollment process because of financial constraints they’re faced with. According to Cash for College, a FAFSA Challenge initiative of Alabama Possible, Alabama students left $43.3 million in grants on the table in 2016.
In Mobile County, FAFSA completion rates increased from 30.1% (10/1/2016-3/30/2017) to 38.3% (10/1/2017-3/30/2018) yielding a 27.23% improvement rate. While this is a great accomplishment, this pace of improvement must be sustained in order for Mobile County to realize 75,000 Degrees by 2030. In alignment with the mission of 75,000 Degrees, we propose to increase the completion rate by 8.2 percentage points for the graduating class of 2019. By 2020, 54.7% of graduating seniors will complete the FAFSA.
Be ready on October 1 to begin completing your FAFSA by creating your FSA ID today!
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Mobile County Public School System FAFSA Completion Dashboard
Chickasaw City Schools FAFSA Dashboard
Work made possible by NCAN
