Rising to the Challenge: Resources and Strategies to Boost FAFSA Completions in Florida

Florida College Access Network is hosting a webinar on Tuesday, October 18^th at 2pm to kick off the second annual Florida FAFSA Challenge and provide counselors, advisors, mentors and other community partners with the resources and strategies needed to make sure students have the money they need to attend college or career school.

This jam-packed webinar will feature some of the nation’s leading experts on FAFSA completion tools, information, resources and strategies. Speakers include:

• Ben Castleman, Professor at the University of Virginia and Don Yu, Director of the First Lady’s Better Make Room campaign, will discuss evidence-based FAFSA completion strategies and the UP NEXT text messaging service available for college-going students;
• Claire Fluker, Awareness and Outreach Specialist with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), will highlight changes to the 2017-18 FAFSA and the suite of resources made available through FSA;
• Elizabeth Morgan, Director, External Relations with the National College Access Network, will introduce the newly-launched Form Your Future campaign and website geared toward increasing FAFSA completion;
• Lori Auxier, Director of Outreach with the Florida Department of Education’s Office of Student Financial Assistance, will discuss some of the Florida strategies available for boosting FAFSA completion, including CGS!Florida and access to student-level FAFSA data; and
• Troy Miller, Associate Director of Research and Policy with Florida CAN will reveal new state-level FAFSA completion data and details of the 2016-17 Florida FAFSA Challenge.

The FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, is available right now for students who plan to attend college in 2017-18. Unfortunately, tens of thousands of Florida graduating high school seniors miss out on free money for college simply because they do not complete the form.

Florida CAN’s research shows that our state’s high school graduates leave behind over $100 million in Pell Grants each year by not completing the form. Helping students complete the FAFSA is a crucial step to ensuring that finances are not a barrier for academically prepared students looking to attend a college, university or technical school.

Event Details:
Webinar: Rising to the Challenge: Resources and Strategies to Boost FAFSA Completions in Florida
Date and Time: Tuesday, October 18th from 2:00-3:15 PM
Registration link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7732777694993154049

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This event has concluded. Please click the links below for the slides, recording of the webinar and other related resources:

Rising to the Challenge: Resources and Strategie to Boost FAFSA Completions in Florida Slides (.pdf)

Rising to the Challenge: Resources and Strategie to Boost FAFSA Completions in Florida Recording (YouTube)