Last month, the Florida College Access Network and the Florida School Counselor Association wrote a joint letter to the Florida Department of Education’s Office of Student Financial Assistance (OSFA), requesting that the DOE make available student-level FAFSA completion data to school counselors and administrators post-haste.
Last spring, President Obama signed an executive order making such information available to schools and districts. Evidence shows that by knowing the names of students who have completed the form, school administrators and counselors are best able to identify students in need of help.
During Florida CAN’s FAFSA webinar on January 16th, OSFA announced to attendees that a data sharing agreement has been approved and finalized with the Department of Education’s legal staff and that they will have an update on implementation within 2-3 weeks.
Florida CAN and FSCA thanks OSFA for making this issue a priority and will keep you abreast of updates as they become available.