BOSTON — High school students would be required to fill out the application for federal student aid under a proposal being pitched by lawmakers as part of the state budget.
The bipartisan amendment, co-sponsored by state Rep. Andy Vargas, D-Haverhill, would require public school districts to ensure that all college-bound high school students submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid as a graduation requirement.
Under the proposal, parents and students would be able to submit a waiver opting out of the mandate. Those who opt out would not be prevented from graduating.
The proposal would allow students and families “to make an informed decision on whether they want to pursue higher education and how to fund the expense,” Vargas said.
“The roll out of the latest FASFA application process has been difficult and has caused many to forgo the application,” he said. “My amendment proposes a two-year delay on implementation to ensure students and families are well-informed and can easily access the application.”
Other backers of the plan say it will help more Massachusetts students to attend college and graduate, leading to higher wages, benefits, and health outcomes, and helping ease the state’s workforce crunch.
“You shouldn’t have to have a bachelors’ degree to get a good job, but the fact is in Massachusetts you do,” said Lane Glenn, president of Northern Essex Community College, who is among those supporting the proposal. “Like it or not, most of the jobs that pay enough to support one or two people require a bachelors’ degree or higher.”
“So the better we can do at equipping people with that credential, the better off the workforce is going to be, the less we’re going to need subsidized public health care, the less we’ll have people coming into contact with the criminal justice system, and the other societal benefits of having more education,” he said.
Many students are missing out on financial help to pay for college, Glenn says, in some cases simply because their parents didn’t know federal aid was available to them.
Advocates say there are racial and ethnic disparities in the application process, with less than 50% of high school students in Gateway cities like Lawrence and Lynn — which have more Black and Hispanic residents — completing the FAFSA, and only about 40% attending college.
Lane said set other states that have taken similar steps — most recently New York — there has been a noticeable uptick in the number of FAFSA applications by high-schoolers.
There been some pushback to the plan from school superintendents and counselors, who have raised concerns about the added costs of helping students comply with the proposed FAFSA filing requirement. Supporters say while the proposal doesn’t include additional state funding, it would create a new trust fund to help schools cover the costs.
The proposal is one of nearly 1,500 amendments set to be taken up by the House on Wednesday when it begins debate on the $57.9 billion state budget.
Vargas’ amendment has won bipartisan support from House Republican Minority Leader Brad Jones, R-North Reading, who is among nine co-sponsors of the request.
Students must submit the free FAFSA forms to be eligible for federal Pell grants and loans as well as financial aid offered by states and schools, but there is no state requirement to do so.
The deadline to apply is May 1, but some states and schools have rolled back that date in response to a problem-plagued rollout of the new FAFSA application.
In Massachusetts, only 60% of high school seniors filed a FAFSA form in 2022, leaving an estimated $48.4 million potential Pell Grant dollars on the table, according to the National College Attainment Network, which analyzes data from FAFSA filings.
Over the past two years, Bay State students have lost out on more than $96 million in federal financial assistance for college, the group estimates.
Overall, the number of high schoolers who have submitted a FAFSA application is down significantly this year, education officials say, raising concerns that some low-income students won’t be able to afford to enroll in school this fall.
Roughly 37% of high school seniors had completed the FAFSA form as of April 12, compared with 50% of the prior senior class at the same point last year, according to data.
The drop in filings coincides with a new FAFSA application system, mandated by Congress, which has been set by delays and missteps by federal education officials.
The overhaul of the application process was supposed to make the whole process of applying for financial aid much simpler. But the rollout has been plagued by delays, technical glitches and administrative mistakes.
That’s prompted some colleges and universities and states — including Massachusetts — to extend the deadline for applying for financial aid.
Last week, the state Department of Higher Education announced it is pushing back the priority deadline for the state’s largest financial aid program from May 1 to July 1 — allowing students more time to submit the forms.
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com
