April is Financial Literacy Month.
And as graduating high school seniors look ahead to the next chapter in their academic careers, the State University of New York wants to make sure students are taking advantage of all available financial aid.
WAMC’s Lucas Willard spoke with SUNY Chancellor Dr. John King about the public college system’s push to encourage students to fill out their Free Application for Federal Student Aid…
We try each year during April, which is Financial Aid Month, to make sure that students understand all the great resources that are available to them to attend college. About 52% of our SUNY students attend tuition-free because of federal and state financial aid. So, we want to make sure no one misses out on those opportunities.
Chancellor King, do you have an update on the FAFSA rollout? There were some hiccups last year with the new system. Do you anticipate that things may run a little smoother for students who are preparing to enroll in college?
Yes, this year is definitely more smooth than last year, where the federal government had some challenges with the FAFSA rollout. We're already seeing a higher FAFSA completion rate this year than last year, but we still have a long way to go, and we want to make sure that every student completes that Free Application for Federal Student Aid, because it's really the gateway to federal and state support. Last year in New York, students left over $200 million on the table in unclaimed federal aid that they could have had if they completed the FAFSA.
Are there any programs that help students come up to speed on financial literacy? Maybe, you know, they're signing the dotted line on their student loans, but they don't really understand what they're getting themselves into.
Yeah, there is an effort to make sure that students go through a workshop around financial aid, but we really try to lean in with our high school seniors around the state. Last year, Governor Hochul led an effort to pass a universal FAFSA law so that high school counselors are working closely with higher education to make sure that students and families understand the financial aid that is available to them. We also have a FAFSA Completion Corps, where we are training current SUNY students to provide FAFSA coaching for prospective students and their families, and that's been a very effective program. We also do a ton of information sessions. If folks go to SUNY.edu they can find out about information sessions and even personalized appointments to help them navigate the FAFSA
Does SUNY find that actually having students working with other students to be more effective, in some ways, in communicating with students about the realities of student loan borrowing and financial education?
Yeah, there's something really beneficial about that near-peer relationship. It's someone who's gone through a similar experience. I remember talking with one of our FAFSA corps students last year whose parents don't speak English, and was describing how hard that made it to navigate the financial aid process, and then how satisfying it was to work with a prospective student who also had parents who don't speak English. And this student was able to, because they're bilingual, was able to communicate with the family, help them navigate the financial aid process, and it was very fulfilling for them. And that's the great thing about service, right? You're helping, and it's also very satisfying.
