By: Selena Cardona
The National College Attainment Network (NCAN) has created a new dashboard to visualize FAFSA renewal data. In this recently created dashboard, using data from Federal Student Aid (FSA), the analysis shows that nearly 250,000 fewer returning students from the lowest-income backgrounds have renewed their FAFSA for the 2020-2021 cycle. Overall, FAFSA renewals are down nearly 5% (more than 350,000 students) when compared to the previous year.
Among high school seniors in the class of 2020, from the time period of March 13 to April 17, there was a decline of more than 50,000 FAFSA completions. Due to the completion of the FAFSA being a strong indicator of postsecondary enrollment, this downward trend in FAFSA renewals points to students’ uncertainty about continuing their postsecondary education in the fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On February 29th, 2020, there were about 138,000 fewer returning applicants with a completed FAFSA compared to February 29th, 2019. March’s COVID-related transitions to virtual instruction and other college campus related changes accelerated these declines in FAFSA completion. March 15th, March 30th, and April 15th saw double-digit declines in FAFSA completions relative to last year with declines of 10.2%, 20%, and 15.3% respectively.
The decrease in FAFSA renewals is even steeper among returning FAFSA applicants from low-income backgrounds. Between March 15th and April 15th, FSA received 21.8% fewer FAFSA completions from returning applicants with incomes of less than $25,000. In this same time period, there were 24.3% fewer Pell Grant-eligible returning applicants from the lowest income group and 20.3% fewer from the group earning between $25,000 and $50,000.
