September 2024 Newsletter
Last month, the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) announced that this year’s FAFSA would launch on December 1 for all students. While this is undoubtedly welcome news following last year’s chaotic rollout of the revised form, the new start date is delayed by two months from the traditional October 1, renewing anxieties among students, educators, and counselors who remember all too well the unintended consequences of FAFSA’s 2023 redesign.
The FAFSA is an essential entrance point for millions of students seeking to go to college. Seniors who complete the form are 84 percent more likely to start college immediately following high school, with this figure soaring to 127 percent among students from the lowest socioeconomic backgrounds. Despite this, just 58 percent of the class of 2023 completed the FAFSA, leaving an estimated $4 billion in federal student aid untouched. The long and complicated form had too long served as a roadblock to its own success, and there’s no denying that the FAFSA was in urgent need of a revamp.
Unfortunately, as we all know now, the launch of the Better FAFSA was not only greatly delayed but riddled with complications, errors, and other problems. As of August, FAFSA completions were down by 9.1 percent over the previous academic year. Even as FSA works hard to ensure this year’s FAFSA rollout goes more smoothly, the debacle remains a stark reminder of the unintended but very real consequences that can stem from even the best of intentions.
This issue is far from isolated. Consider the impact of re-enrollment programs designed to bring back students who left higher education without earning a degree. With nearly 37 million Americans having gone to college but never graduated, the growing popularity of these initiatives is an encouraging development. During the 2021-2022 academic year, about 900,000 students returned to college thanks, in part, to these programs. However, this number is overshadowed by the more than 2 million students who stopped out in the same period.
The challenge lies in how limited many of these programs are in scope. They tend to target recent stop-outs or those who were nearing graduation when they left, often at the expense of the millions of students who paused their education for much lengthier amounts of time due to financial hardships or family responsibilities. These overlooked individuals do not represent a small segment of learners but the vast majority of those who could benefit from targeted assistance. In fact, the “near-completers” colleges typically focus on account for just 7 percent of those who attended college and departed before graduation.
Both the FAFSA challenges and the limitations of re-enrollment programs highlight how easily policies designed to support students can inadvertently exclude and disadvantage those they aim to assist. The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation remains deeply committed to understanding and addressing these kinds of complexities as we continue to serve our diverse and multifaceted community of Scholars.
Warm regards,
Seppy Basili
Cooke Foundation Highlights
This summer, we relaunched our monthly counselor newsletter under a new name: the Cooke Foundation Navigator. The Navigator provides educators with valuable content, updates, and insights into our scholarship programs. Stay informed and up to date with the latest information by signing up to receive the newsletter here.
The College Scholarship Program is now accepting applications! High-achieving high school seniors with financial need are encouraged to apply for this selective award that offers students the opportunity to graduate college debt-free.s. This year, applicants must have a minimum unweighted GPA of 3.75 and submit their applications by November 14, 2024. In addition to financial support, Cooke Scholars benefit from comprehensive advising, cohort-based programming, and access to a network of nearly 3,200 Scholars and Alumni. Students interested can apply here.
The Transfer Scholarship application will be open from October 3, 2024 to January 9, 2025. This highly selective scholarship is designed for top community college students looking to complete their bachelor’s degrees at four-year institutions and graduate college debt-free. In addition to financial support, Scholars benefit from personalized advising, college planning support, and opportunities to connect with a thriving community of fellow Scholars. More information can be found here.
News for High-Achieving Students
The Common Application announced that it is expanding its direct admissions program for the 2024-2025 season to include 116 colleges and universities across 34 states. This program allows students to be admitted to institutions without completing a lengthy application process, aiming to boost enrollment and student diversity. New features this year include the ability for students to view and act on their offers directly within the Common App platform, along with additional resources for counselors and families.
The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s 2024 High School Benchmarks report, released in early September, revealed small gains in college enrollment and persistence among public high school graduates. The report showed that immediate college enrollment for the class of 2023 remained steady compared to the prior year, while persistence rates from the first to second year of college increased by at least one percentage point for the class of 2021 across all high school characteristics. However, postsecondary completion rates for the class of 2017 stagnated or declined.
What We’re Reading
The Chronicle of Higher Education – What the FAFSA Just Happened?
Inside Higher Education – There Aren’t Enough Internships to Go Around
The Hechinger Report – STUDENT VOICE: One of every five college students is a parent. Here’s how colleges can help more of us graduate
Higher Ed Dive – For too many learners, working while in college is a barrier to career growth