TESTIMONY ON A1181

JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

June 9, 2022

Thank you, Chairwoman Jasey and Chairman Cryan and members of the committee for the
opportunity to speak on the subject of requiring high school students to complete financial aid
forms as a prerequisite for graduation. These issues have been set forth primarily in Assembly
Bill A1181, released yesterday by the Assembly Education Committee. I am aware that the
legislation may be subject to further amendment or revision, but want to speak about my
concerns related to FAFSA completion by high school students.
I speak to you today as Vice President of the Garden State Coalition and as a 15-year
Board of Education member. I also just recently retired as the Director of Professional
Development and School Community Partnerships at William Paterson University where I
worked in the College of Education for thirty years working closely with school districts across
the state.
Along with other GSCS members, I believe that every student who wants to go on to higher
education should have the opportunity and funding to do so. We know that students and their

families often make choices about higher education based on the information they receive (or do
not receive) about financial aid options.
That information, as well as assistance in completing the forms, should be provided in every
way possible, but we do not believe that “requiring” (as worded in the legislation) students
and/or their families to fill out the FAFSA or a similar state form generated by the Higher
Education Student Assistance Authority (NJHESAA) as a graduation requirement is the best way
to achieve that goal.
It would set a terrible precedent to impose a non-academic graduation requirement, even
with opt out provisions and assurances that no student would be barred from graduating due to
noncompletion of the form or waiver. Since parents most often fill out financial aid forms for
students under 18, this task would primarily be performed by parents, not students. It might well
open the door for further non-academic requirements that would require parental involvement
and potentially penalize students with non-compliant parents. This is not an insignificant
concern in this era of “parents rights” activism.
A1181 also mentions documenting rates of financial aid form completion on the annual
School Report Card. If this documentation is deemed to be necessary, we would suggest
including it in QSAC instead.
We are also concerned that while the bill does not require school counselors or other
school personnel to assist students and their families with the FAFSA or similar HESAA form,
the requirement will almost inevitably increase counselor workloads. The Newark FAFSA
requirement, which has been cited as a successful example, requires students to submit the
waiver form to school counselors. If counselors are indeed responsible for collecting forms and
waivers and tabulating rates of FAFSA completion and waiver submission, time will inevitably
be taken from other important tasks. Right now, counselors are in short supply and many are

responsible for hundreds of students who need not only career counseling, but substantial SEL
support.
As a school board member and an educator, I am very concerned about adding yet another
unfunded mandate to our schools, which the necessity of tracking forms (financial aid or
waivers) will certainly do. In addition, I would like to point out that this will be confusing to
parents, since some have students enrolling in the military, taking a gap year or know their
income is too high and don’t want to complete a financial aid form. Some may consider the
sharing of income information with school district personnel as an invasion of privacy. In my
school district, some families will not even apply for the Federal Free and Reduced Lunch
Program, due to embarrassment and/or privacy concerns.
So what are other means to meet the goals of this legislation?
The excellent report, “Improving Access to Post Secondary Education Through FAFSA
Completion”, published in 2021 by the Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies at
Rutgers—Newark, lists the “Strategies that Work” in increasing FAFSA completion. They
include:
 Student-level FAFSA completion data;
 Cross-sector partnerships;
 Strategic outreach;
 Capacity building;
 Incentives;
 FAFSA legislation (implemented in several states).
The study notes large disparities in rates of FAFSA completion among school districts. For
this reason, we believe that a more targeted, data-informed approach to increasing completion

rates, including cross strategic outreach, capacity building, and cross-sector partnerships, is a
more efficient use of state and district resources than a broad-brush legislative strategy.
While higher education institutions and the NJHESAA already furnish students and families
with accessible resources through traditional means, through on campus and virtual visits,
websites, online workshops, work with high schools on dual enrollment, a toll free hotline,
online advice center and You Tube videos, even more could be done with social media postings,
which “meet students where they live.”
In New Jersey our strength is in our diversity, but it can present challenges as well. A recent
Star Ledger article cited 190 languages spoken by students in New Jersey schools. To support
ongoing outreach to families, school districts and universities working with districts need sample
forms, letters and online resources parents and students in the languages most frequently spoken
by New Jersey students
FAFSA completion rates are rising overall and that is a hopeful sign. Though we have
concerns about A1181 and similar legislation requiring completion of financial aid forms or the
granting of specific waivers, we hope that increased awareness of the availability of financial aid
for higher education will lead to positive outcomes New Jersey students bound for higher education.