More Austin-area students will head to college with financial aid in-hand thanks in part to a regional, Austin Chamber of Commerce-led effort to help more families complete federal and state financial aid forms.
According to new U.S. Department of
Education data, Austin region students submitted nearly 2,000 more federal financial aid forms—the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)—in the spring of the 2009-10 school year than the spring of 2008-09. This represents a 15 percent year-over-year increase.
Since 2006, the Chamber and 14 school districts, postsecondary institutions, businesses and community organizations from across the Austin region have held nearly one hundred Financial Aid Saturday events. These free, open-to-all events are held on nearly every Austin region high school campus. Regional higher education financial aid counselors and advisors are part of the 450-plus volunteers from a variety of backgrounds that helped students and their families fill out and submit the often confusing federal and state financial aid forms—the FAFSA and the Texas Application for State Financial Aid (TAFSA).
The program runs from the beginning of February through the end of March and has been a key contributor to the increase in first quarter FAFSA filings for the Austin area. Regional first quarter FAFSA filings have increased by 85 percent since 2006.
“Our coordinated effort – unifying educators, administrators, businesses and community volunteers – has been tremendously successful. Completing the financial aid process in early spring helps students receive the funding they need to continue their education. This one-year increase in early FAFSA submissions possibly equates to millions of dollars for our Austin area students,” said Doris Constantine, Associate Vice President for Student Financial Services at St. Edward’s University and chair of the Chamber’s Financial Aid Committee, the group that oversees the Financial Aid Saturday Program.
The Financial Aid Saturday Program is a component of the Chamber’s 20,010 by 2010 initiative, which began in 2006 and is focused on ensuring 20,010 area high school graduates are prepared to enroll in college and graduate ready to meet future workforce expectations by the end of 2010. The initiative aims to close a regional college-going gap and aligns with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s statewide Closing the Gaps effort. The 20,010 by 2010 initiative is funded by Opportunity Austin investors and plays a key role in ensuring our region has a diverse and well educated local workforce that makes the Austin area attractive to businesses looking to locate or expand in our region.
High school graduates who submit financial aid forms are more likely to enroll in postsecondary education than those who do not, according to Chamber-funded research by the Student Futures Project hosted at the University of Texas’ Ray Marshall Center. Student Futures Project research has also shown that Hispanic students who submit a FAFSA are 350 percent more likely to enroll in postsecondary education than their peers.
“For the Austin region to prosper, we need more of our local residents to complete some type of postsecondary education,” said Gene Austin, CEO of Austin software company Convio, Inc. and chair of the Chamber’s Education and Talent Development Council. “Helping more students and families complete and submit college financial aid forms is a remarkably effective way of unkinking the educational pipeline and ensuring a strong supply of well-qualified workers for years to come.”
