Edited release
09/01/22
After four years of declining rates, Iowa’s current Free Application For Student Aid, or FAFSA completion rate equals last year’s levels.
Nearly half of Iowa high school seniors in the class of 2022 applied for college financial aid using the FAFSA. However, despite the FAFSA completion rate stabilizing, the rate has not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, and significant equity gaps remain between gender, race, and income levels.
The findings are detailed in Iowa College Aid’s “FAFSA Filing in Iowa: 2022” report at https://drive.google.com/file/d/13k1DSYI8DioVEYdxthk4Jc3YnsfFt4XZ/view
During the 2022-23 FAFSA cycle, 49 percent of Iowa high school seniors completed the FAFSA, a four percentage point decline from the 53 percent FAFSA completion rate achieved in the 2018-19 FAFSA cycle.
Dr. Mark Wiederspan, Executive Director of Iowa College Aid, says their research indicates students are more likely to attend and complete college if they complete the FAFSA.
When separated by race and ethnicity, Asian, Hispanic, and Black students all experienced modest increases in FAFSA completion rates during the most recent FAFSA cycle. However, Hispanic and Black students still have the lowest FAFSA completion rates of any race/ethnicity, lagging the completion rate of White students by approximately 20 percentage points. In addition, male public high school students complete the FAFSA at a rate that trails their female counterparts by 15 percentage points.
Iowa College Aid is also hosting a FAFSA Learning Day Oct. 11 as part of FAFSA Awareness Week Oct. 10-14. The week is a statewide initiative to educate and inform Iowans with step-by-step strategies and information on completing the FAFSA and securing aid to finance post-secondary education. Details are available at IowaCollegeAid.gov.