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Projects

States of Opportunity: Supporting State Financial Aid Policy Development in Dynamic Times

Summary

Aid programs exist at both the federal and state levels, and much work has been done over decades to ensure these programs work together. This has included streamlining state application processes to use the FAFSA form, with the intent of reducing application burden on students and encouraging a focus on need-based state aid programs.

Through this project, NCHEMS uncovered which aspects of federal aid processing form the backbone of state processes. NCHEMS also convened state financial aid leaders to learn more about actions they are taking or considering, and to brainstorm innovative strategies to ensure predictability and consistency in state aid processing.

New Release

  • Supporting State Financial Aid Policy Development in Dynamic Times – found in the Resources section below. 
Topics Challenges Approach Resources

Topics

Financial Aid

  • What do states need from FSA and the FAFSA to administer state aid?
  • How are state financial aid leaders ensuring predictability and consistency in state aid processing?

Challenges

One of the most significant challenges in the inventory of state aid programs was reconciling statutory requirements with the practical administration of these programs. To address this, the project team reviewed both statutory language and publicly available information from state aid programs and state higher education agency websites to understand not only what is required by policy, but also how programs are implemented in practice. A limitation of this method is that, because this analysis relies on publicly available sources, some information may not fully reflect the most current administrative practices.

Approach

This project was completed in two parts. First, NCHEMS determined which FAFSA components states rely on the most to administer their financial aid programs by reviewing state policies and statutes. Then, NCHEMS conducted focus groups with state financial aid leaders to ideate methods to continually improve state aid programs to serve their state’s distinct needs.

Resources

  • States of Opportunity: Building Meaningful Connections Between the FAFSA and State Financial Aid – Blog Post
  • Workforce Pell Doesn’t Come With State Aid Instructions – Blog Post
  • *New Release: Supporting State Financial Aid Policy Development in Dynamic Times – Final Report