Florida College Access Network (FCAN) is pleased to announce the kickoff of the Florida FAFSA Challenge for the 2024-25 school year, which runs through March 29, 2025.
The Challenge encourages schools, districts, and communities to increase the number of graduating high school seniors who complete the FAFSA, which helps qualifying students access funds to pay for college.
“We know Florida’s future prosperity depends on increasing college enrollment and ensuring all students have the opportunity to experience career success through the transformational power of education,” said Braulio Colón, executive director of FCAN. “Completing the FAFSA is the best way to encourage students to pursue education after high school.”
The Florida FAFSA Challenge aims to encourage counselors and support students with completing the form.
The U.S. Department of Education released the 2025–26 FAFSA on November 21 to all students and families. The official launch comes after four nationwide beta test phases where students had early access to the form to help identify any issues. Two of FCAN’s local partners participated in the beta testing period. Broward’s Bridge 2 Life led the country in the number of completed submissions. Citrus County Coalition was also selected to beta test.
This year’s Florida FAFSA Challenge aims to expand on the momentum from the FCAN-led Better FAFSA Summer Completion efforts which resulted in significant progress. By the end of the summer, the 2024-25 FAFSA cycle’s completion rate increased by 12-percentage points (31.1% to 43.5%) from May 24 to August 30, slightly edging the 10-percentage point increase seen last cycle.
Completing the FAFSA is strongly associated with postsecondary enrollment in the fall following high school graduation. According to the National College Attainment Network, seniors who complete the FAFSA are 84% more likely to immediately enroll in postsecondary education.
The Florida FAFSA Challenge started in 2015 to encourage all Florida schools and districts to increase FAFSA completion by at least five percentage points over the previous year. With over 500 schools registered to participate, FCAN recognizes innovative efforts at its Talent Strong Florida summit. Last school year, Miami Beach Senior High School was recognized as the 2024 FAFSA Trailblazer.
Register Today
Register your school, district, or organization for the Florida FAFSA Challenge here. Registered schools receive special updates, tips for success, and other support. To learn more, visit the Statewide Initiatives page on FCAN’s website.
FCAN and its partners offer a variety of tools and resources to help schools and districts increase FAFSA completion:
- The Florida FAFSA Challenge Toolkit: FCAN’s toolkit contains resources and strategies to support efforts on increasing FAFSA completions.
- The National College Attainment Network (NCAN): NCAN provides resources on a webpage dedicated to the 25-26 FAFSA.
- U.S. Department of Education Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) YouTube Channel: The FSA‘s YouTube Channel offers how-to videos on completing the FAFSA and provides overviews of the resources they have to help counselors and students.
Additionally, FSA has organized various resources for those who support students with the FAFSA:
- The Resources to Assist with Preparation for the 202-26 FAFSA Cycle webpage has a list of new 25-26 FAFSA resources including the 25-26 FAFSA Roadmap and the 25-26 FAFSA Prototype.
- FSA Webinar Recording: FAFSA: Preparing for 25-26 and Updates on 24-25
- FSA recently deployed a series of corrections to address several known issues such as disappearing applicant and/or contributor signatures, submission blocks when using military/FPO addresses, and requests for asset information when not necessary.
For more information about the Florida FAFSA Challenge or any of FCAN’s College Ready Florida initiatives, contact Adriana Pavicic, FCAN’s Communications and Initiatives Manager, at apavicic@floridacollegeaccess.org.