A historic look shows FAFSA completion rates aren’t quite as bleak as you might think

The 2025-26 FAFSA cycle has begun. There’s hope things will go more smoothly, after persistent issues over the last year led to a nationwide decline in FAFSA completion. (Lisa Kurian Philip, our reporter in Chicago, followed one high-school counselor as he navigated all the FAFSA issues. He ended up leaving the role.) 

There are some positive signs, which The Century Foundation’s Peter Granville and National College Attainment Network’s Bill DeBaun laid out in a post this week. For one thing, significant investment in FAFSA completion has closed the gap a bit: Now there are about 8.9% fewer FAFSAs completed year-over-year, compared to 11.6% at the end of June.

And, there’s a bright spot when it comes to low-income students. In an analysis of data from 2017 and 2023, Granville and DeBaun find those students are benefiting from continued nudges to get the FAFSA done. This is significant because FAFSA issues affected low-income students and students of color the most, and completing the application is critical for accessing federal financial aid. 

Those nudges include things such as FAFSA nights and completion competitions among school districts. Twelve states now require FAFSA completion before graduation. Indianapolis Public Schools now have a counselor at each high school focused specifically on FAFSA, our Claire Rafford reported this week.

And, there are other college-going initiatives such as dual-enrollment and college promise programs that “push students in the same direction,” Granville and DeBaun write. 

“It is still broadly true that higher-income communities show higher FAFSA completion rates; however, completion rates for communities with the lowest incomes showed a disproportionately strong rebound after the pandemic, bringing their completion rates to nearly the levels of upper-middle-income communities,” they found. 

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And, communities with the lowest education attainment levels also show an increase in FAFSA completion, they found. This “likely means that families without college experience are finding assistance with the FAFSA from other sources, such as counselors, nonprofits, or state agencies.” (Jonathan Custodio at our partner The City wrote about such efforts in New York City.) 

While low-income families completing the FAFSA is an “undisputed win,” as they most need aid to attend college, Granville and DeBaun also warn that completion is trending downward among middle-income communities, based on their analysis of data from 2017 and 2023. 

In that time frame, middle-income families’ aggregate FAFSA completion rate fell by 2.1 percentage points. Policies to increase FAFSA completion are especially important for these families, who can’t pay for college entirely out of pocket and may think it’s too expensive to attend. 

“They may still qualify for some aid, even substantial aid, if only they complete the FAFSA,” Granville and DeBaun write. “No student should pass on higher learning simply because they thought it was out of their financial reach.” 

Life after high school 

We’ve spent much of this past year talking to community members in Houston and Chicago about how they learn about post-high school options. It’s part of a broader project we’re embarking on to better understand information gaps in these communities and work to close them. 

We’ve learned a lot so far, and we recently shared our findings in a virtual conversation. Read a recap here or watch a recording of the webinar. Use this passcode to access it: c1L@5=vk

Elsewhere on Open Campus

From California: Our partner CalMatters has found at least seven court cases filed since 2020 in which professors or students have sued community college districts over free-speech issues. Most have taken years to resolve, Adam Echelman reports at our partner CalMatters.

It’s an example of how culture-war issues are playing out on campuses across the country, even in blue states.

Meanwhile, in Texas, the University of North Texas has removed dozens of references to race and equity in course titles and descriptions. The changes are seen as preemptively complying with direction expected to come during the next legislative session.

“I’m losing faith a little bit that UNT would ever stop this slide,” Adam Briggle, a professor and director of graduate studies of philosophy at UNT, told our Kate McGee. “When do we actually push back? Where’s the line here? Because you can see how little by little, this could just become a total violation of academic freedoms.”

From our HBCU Student Journalism Network: Professors at historically Black colleges and universities say the polarized political environment has changed dynamics in their classroom. For one thing, students are increasingly coming with opinions based on unverified or misleading information. 

“Political parties are not the center focus of politics as they were before,” said Abdul Sharif, a political science professor at Florida A&M University. “Now it’s about what they saw on Twitter, Instagram, or other social outlets. Times have changed.”

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