Answer: 60.9%

Questions:

• What is the other 39% of the student population missing out on by NOT submitting the FAFSA?
• What are the top three reasons that you think so many graduating seniors do NOT file the FAFSA?
• What percentage of graduating seniors do you think submit the FAFSA at your school? (You can find out here!)

Here's the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.

Behind the numbers (from Hechinger Report)

The completion rate for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, among 2018 high school graduates barely improved from the class of 2017, according to a July report from the nonprofit organization National College Access Network. For the class of 2018, 60.9 percent of graduates completed the FAFSA by June 29; among 2017 graduates, 60.6 percent had completed the form by June 30 of that year.

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Want to extend this question of a day into a lesson? Check out this 45 minute NGPF Lesson: Filing the FAFSA. 

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 Looking for more resources to help your students understand FAFSA? Check out all of the FAFSA resources on the NGPF Website. 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.