States Should Make the FAFSA Mandatory

Three states have now enacted “Mandatory FAFSA” policies, which require twelfth graders to either apply for federal student aid or expressly opt out before they graduate. With another thirteen states considering enacting their own policy, it is one of the fastest-moving movements in college access policy, but its outcomes and nuances are not yet well understood.

This report contests the view that the policy is an easy solution to FAFSA completion. But it also finds that the policy, when well-implemented, carries real promise. In Louisiana, the only state of the three that has fully implemented the requirement, 1 in 3 public high schools had a FAFSA completion rate of at least 65 percent before the policy went into effect—now, 4 in 5 do. This report finds, as well, that the mandatory FAFSA shows potential in terms of correcting long-standing disparities in FAFSA completion between high-poverty, diverse school districts and their lower-poverty, less diverse peers. With Louisiana’s policy, the FAFSA completion gap separating high-income districts from low-income districts closed remarkably, from 8.5 percentage points to 1.1 percentage points in just one year.

States enacting mandatory FAFSA policies must center equity in their designs: for example, undocumented students will experience this requirement differently than their peers, and states should provide easy pathways for these students to opt out. State should also look to overcome potential shortfalls that threaten efficacy: this report finds that many FAFSAs in Louisiana—particularly in lower-income, more diverse school districts—are submitted but never assessed for financial aid eligibility. Most importantly, the state should deliver new financial resources to schools with many low-income students, who are the most likely to face structural barriers to FAFSA completion.