By KAILEE E. GALLAHAN
The Exponent Telegram
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — Students across the state are in the process of filing their Free Application for Federal Student Aid applications since the process began Oct. 1, instead of next month for the 2017-18 school year.
School officials are hoping to see an increase from last year’s completion rates as a result of the earlier release.
The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission is seeing that more students are filling out their applications earlier this year, Chancellor Dr. Paul Hill said.
Last year, the completion rate reached a high of 58.5 percent, but 46 high schools met or exceeded the 60 percent mark, he said.
“At this point in the semester, we are at about 22 percent completion in the state,” he said. “We are looking at a goal of 60 percent for the state by the deadline of April 15. Since there is more time and students are already filing, we believe that this is very possible.”
Seventy-nine percent of Bridgeport High School students in the Class of 2016 completed their FAFSA applications last year at Bridgeport, according to data released by the College Foundation of West Virginia, beating last year’s state average.
According to counselor Jane Byrd, 26 percent of students have completed their FAFSA applications as of Nov. 25 this year, and the number continues to grow.
“We had a financial aid night in October and over 70 students were in attendance,” she said. “Students have until March 1 to complete the FAFSA to be eligible for the PROMISE Scholarship. I expect that we will see as high or higher than last year’s 79.1 percent completion.”
A large number of students have completed their FAFSAforms at Liberty High School and many more will be completed by the first of the year, counselor Diana Minutelli said. Nineteen percent to be exact.
“We have had some students bring their information to the school in order to do it here incase they had questions,” she said. “With the prior-prior tax returns, we are especially expecting higher numbers this year.”
Minutelli said even students who are unsure of their post-secondary plans have filled out the FAFSA form this year, and they hope to beat last year’s total of 46.7 percent.
With a graduating class of 83 seniors at South Harrison High School, counselor Raelynn Michaels said nearly 40 percent have completed their FAFSA at this point in the year.
“We have had two FAFSA and financial aid nights at the school this semester,” she said. “In the Class of 2017, although small, we have a larger amount of students interested in pursuing post-secondary education.”
Since the state is allowing the use of information from a prior-prior tax year, Michaels said she believes this is contributing to the higher FAFSA completion numbers. She said she is hopeful that South Harrison will reach or surpass last year’s 49.4 percent completion rate.
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