FAFSA completion rates up in Tucson area

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) - Arizona is starting to see a rise in FAFSA completion rates, getting up to 26%.

And southern Arizona is doing even better than the state.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid form is crucial for many students to obtain financial aid to attend college.

Despite that improvement, completion rates are still down by about 8,000 compared to last year.

But Tucson comes in at 27% with Pima County having a completion rate of about 25.5%.

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But according to Rich Nickel, president and CEO of Education Forward Arizona, there is more to be done.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do and our message to everybody now is, you know, now is the time to do the FAFSA so we can continue to increase those rates,” Nickel said.

He also added that without completing the application, students are missing out on millions of dollars worth of loans, grants, and even scholarships that require the form.

Dr. Alex Karaman, the college and career readiness coordinator for Sabino High, said that is something his team and others work on every single day.

“We have a really strong network of college and career readiness coordinators here in Tucson Unified School District who really like to share information, share resources, and take advantage of existing opportunities to support students as they try and complete the FAFSA,” Karaman said.

Adding that it’s why Sabino and two other TUSD schools have a FAFSA completion rate higher than 50%.

Karaman and Nickel added that the FAFSA isn’t solely for two- or four-year institutions, but can be used for trade schools and private institutions.

Both financial aid experts said a lot of credit for this improvement in completion rates should be given to the state, community groups and colleges, and the Arizona Board of Regents for putting in the effort to host FAFSA assistance workshops to encourage students and their families to complete the application.

“I think the culture in Arizona is starting to shift,” Karaman said. “There’s been this big push from the governor’s office, from ABOR, to make it so that the state average hits 50% across the state of Arizona, across all high schools.”

Nickel added that Pima Community College will be hosting one of those FAFSA assistance workshops on June 1. It will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the downtown campus. Reservations are required due to limited space.

More information about what you should bring and how to RSVP can be found HERE.

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