By NASFAA Policy & Federal Relations Staff
In a session titled, “FAFSA: The Numbers, The Process & The Partnership,” experts unpacked the latest national FAFSA trends, offering NASFAA National Conference attendees a candid look at recent challenges and an optimistic outlook for the future.
Speakers during Wednesday’s session, which included Angela Johnson, vice president of enrollment management at Cuyahoga Community College District, Catherine Brown, senior director of policy at the National College Attainment Network (NCAN), and MorraLee Keller, senior consultant at NCAN, highlighted that while the high school class of 2024 saw a sharp drop in FAFSA completion, data for the class of 2025 is far more encouraging. Completion rates are not only rebounding but surpassing 2023 and 2022 levels, and seemingly on track to return to pre-pandemic norms. All but one state (Louisiana) showed year-over-year improvement in FAFSA completion rates amongst high school seniors, with states like Oklahoma seeing dramatic gains under new mandatory FAFSA policies. Encouragingly, completion rates are recovering fastest at low-income and high-minority high schools.
The session also highlighted recent federal victories that helped stabilize the FAFSA process after a turbulent year, including new FAFSA leadership positions and increased support at Federal Student Aid (FSA) to improve the 2025-26 form.
Victories also included the introduction of beta testing, a November launch (rather than in January as in 2024-25), and streamlining the corrections process. Panelists also discussed challenges that remained in 2025-26, a number of promising improvements on the horizon for the 2026–27 cycle, and the power of partnerships between financial aid offices and access programs in supporting students navigating the financial aid process.
Publication Date: 6/26/2025
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