Stephen Brown with the non-profit Jackson Get2College Center says back to back appointments Tuesday, at Pearl High School, are keeping him busy. He's meeting with families about FAFSA. Brown helps students fill-out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid which requires income details to determine student need.
“So for any federal aid, yes you have to complete it. For some of the Mississippi aid, some of the programs also require the FAFSA, even some colleges and universities are requiring it for students to get institutional scholarships as well,” Brown said.
Mississippi ranks 4th in the nation for FAFSA submissions. But Bill DeBaun with the National College Attainment Network is concerned FAFSA applications have been down in the state and nationwide for two years because of COVID-19.
“You have students and families that may be economically insecure. They may be food insecure. They may be dealing with you know, COVID infection and that’s disrupting home life. FAFSA is just kinda getting bumped down the priority list,” Debaun said.
Debaun says school administrators tell them the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted face to face time with students for the last 18 months. Counselors haven't been able to spend as much time as they'd like talking with students about college opportunities and motivating them to apply for financial-aid.
DeBaun says FAFSA is an indicator of how many students will attend college. He says the downward trend may continue into 2023 and that could have an adverse ripple effect.
“That can have really disastrous impacts on the economy of households, communities, states, the country-at-large,” Debaun said.
Stephen Brown with Jackson Get2College says they’re busy with requests. He says they’ve done 70 percent of FAFSAs in the state and want to increase that number.
Brown says they also help students with preparing for the ACT, determining a major, resume writing, job shadowing, campus visits and meeting with college and university recruiters.
Get2College has two other offices, one in Ocean Springs and another in Southaven.
