Hold a school-wide financial aid for college completion night in partnership with a community-based organization (CBO) that has trusted relationships with students and their families. It may be particularly helpful to partner with a CBO that has expertise supporting students who are undocumented with college access. Trained school staff should be available to support students and families as they complete their FAFSA, NYS Application for TAP, and NYS DREAM Act applications and respond to verification requests.

Hold regular office hours at least once per month for students and families to receive in-person or virtual support from school counselors or community experts to complete their FAFSA, NYS Application for TAP, NYS DREAM Act, and Excelsior Scholarship applications and respond to verification requests.

Set aside some class time each week – during homeroom or study halls for example – for students to work on their financial aid applications (and other postsecondary planning) and respond to verification requests. 

Send monthly letters or emails to parents/families with reminders about the FAFSA, NYS Application for TAP, NYS DREAM Act, and Excelsior Scholarship applications as well as information about upcoming opportunities to get support to complete those materials and respond to verification requests.

Include regular updates in your school newsletter, emails and newspaper about the FAFSA, NYS Application for TAP, NYS DREAM Act, and Excelsior Scholarship applications as well as information about upcoming opportunities to get support to complete those materials and respond to verification requests.

Using your school or district’s text or robocall system, send out at least one update per month to families about financial aid completion and responses to verification requests, as well as to drive participation to your financial aid for college completion night and office hours.

Post regularly on your school’s social media accounts about the FAFSA, NYS Application for TAP, NYS DREAM Act, and Excelsior Scholarship applications as well as information about upcoming opportunities to complete those materials and respond to verification requests.

Regularly check in on your school’s progress toward full FAFSA completion using our www.NYFAFSAChallenge.org website. You should also join the NYS FAFSA Completion Initiative data access program organized by the state’s Higher Education Services Corporation to get student-level completion data. This information should be used to track how well your school’s efforts are working and target resources to individual students and families who need support. 

In a prominent place on your website, post information about the importance of financial aid for college completion, a list of the supports your school is offering to students, and links to resources that students and families can use to help them complete their applications.

Whether school staff have decades of experience with financial aid for college applications, or are just starting out, trainings help you support students and families to navigate the process. They will usually walk you through the online forms, highlight changes from previous years, provide opportunities for you to practice responding to complex questions or scenarios, and highlight common pitfalls.

Annual training and retraining for staff will be especially useful over the next few years as the FAFSA undergoes significant changes passed by Congress in late 2021.

If you know about a training that should be added to our list, please reach out to [email protected] and we’ll add it to the list!