Rummaging through dusty documents for birth certificates and Social Security cards. Uncomfortable conversations with parents about income. Hours spent after school hunched over a computer, filling out form after form.
This is the experience for many highly motivated high school students completing the FAFSA, the federal and state forms that determine their eligibility for college financial aid. But for students who are unsure about attending college—or indifferent altogether—finding motivation to complete these forms can feel like an uphill battle for schools and counselors.
FAFSA completion among Massachusetts high school seniors has dropped nearly 10 percentage points in five years, raising concerns about how this downturn could further impact the already lower FAFSA completion rates of students from historically disadvantaged groups.
At its peak in 2019, about 60 percent of all Massachusetts high school seniors completed the FAFSA, according to a report released earlier this month from the state’s Department of Higher Education and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. By July 31, 2024, that number had dropped to 51.2 percent.
Although FAFSA completion rates declined across all racial subgroups, white and Asian students’ completion rates remained around more than 13 percentage points ahead of their Black classmates, and around more than 22 percentage points ahead of their Hispanic/Latino classmates.
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Education experts worry that declining FAFSA completion among students from historically disadvantaged groups could deepen existing gaps in education, income, and long-term opportunities.
“You’re going to see, in my opinion, a huge drop in the number of students going to college this fall,” said Bob Bardwell, who spent 33 years as a school counselor and is now executive director of the Massachusetts School Counselors Association.
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“You’re hearing leaders of our country say: ‘Because you’re fill-in-the-blank,’ you’re not good enough. If I’m a person of color, I’m a person who’s LGBTQ, I’m a person who has disabilities,” Bardwell said. “I hope they don’t listen, but if some of that does resonate, then why would I go to college?”
Bardwell noted that the sensitive information required for the FAFSA can create challenges for students from mixed-status immigrant families, potentially contributing to the 11-percentage-point gap between Hispanic/Latino students and the next lowest group in completion rates.
“I can only imagine that our students and families are scared,” Bardwell said. “Some of them are very scared because they’re worried—who will see this information, and what will happen to me or my children?”
According to Bardwell, changing societal attitudes toward college spurred by rising tuition costs and less certainty that a degree guarantees a high-paying job probably contribute to the downward trend.
“The American dream of ‘everyone goes to college’ or ‘everyone should go to college’ is different now,” he said, pointing to rising interest in vocational schools and alternative career paths.
The report from the two education departments sets a goal to increase FAFSA completion rates to at least 50 percent in every school district by 2028, and to 70 percent statewide by 2029.
Massachusetts Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler acknowledged that reaching 70 percent in four years would be no easy task but defended its necessity.
“I think the goal is ambitious, and it needs to be ambitious,” Tutwiler said.
To better understand the barriers to FAFSA completion, Tutwiler and his team launched a roadshow that will visit eight high schools statewide.
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“We’ve gone out to four schools so far, and we’re hearing directly from students about the challenges they face,” he said. “Some of it is that their families or caregivers need more information. Some of it is a struggle with gathering all the necessary documents. This is extremely helpful for us and for educators so we can provide more targeted support.”
The departments propose several initiatives to boost FAFSA completion rates, including a statewide dashboard to track rates by district, similar to a model used in Illinois and Tennessee. They also aim to implement MyCAP, a student planning tool, in all Massachusetts high schools by 2027-28, and to update the state’s College and Career Readiness framework, a set of standards to prepare students for life after high school.
Additionally, they call for collaboration with partners like the Massachusetts School Counselors Association and the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority.
Though concerned about declining rates, Bardwell stressed that the issue isn’t black and white. In the rapidly changing economy and society of today, for some students, avoiding tens of thousands in student loan debt is the best financial decision for their future.
“There are certainly students that should be going to college for a variety of reasons, but then there are a lot of students that shouldn’t go for their own reasons, and they shouldn’t be made to feel less than because they’re pursuing a different path,” Bardwell said.
Nathan Metcalf can be reached at nathan.metcalf@globe.com. Follow him on Instagram @natpat_123.