A program designed to increase the number of students who apply for college financial aid, being tested in Denver and 19 other cities, has not come through with the data promised, school district officials said.
“We’re very disappointed,” said Cori Canty-Woessner, director of counseling for Denver Public Schools. “I’m kind of viewing it now as a middle step. We’re still creating the awareness, so we’ll see what we can do just with that.”
The project’s goal is to provide names of students who have completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), those who have incorrectly filled it out and those who haven’t started it, so that schools can target the help they provide.
Canty-Woessner said the goal was to have the information updated weekly.
But a delay in compiling and distributing the data at the federal level means districts won’t know which of their students have filled out the form until early May — too late to reach the students as they graduate, and too late to get them the maximum amount of money they might be eligible for.
“We’re optimistic for the long run because our rollout is very comprehensive and has been touted as a model,” Canty-Woessner said.
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited Manual High School on Tuesday to highlight the effort and talk about removing financial barriers for students to attend college.
Duncan said his department worked with the Internal Revenue Service to cut questions on the FAFSA by about 30 percent. The online form now allows students to skip some questions based on previous answers.
Denver’s efforts to increase FAFSA completion include outreach to parents, whom some students call the biggest challenge in filling out the form.
“The form was not too hard, but my parents were confused,” said Manual senior Joshua Spearman. “Specifically with one question, I asked my mom how much money she makes per year, and she was like, ‘Why do they want to know that?’ “
Spearman’s parents helped him complete his form after attending a FAFSA workshop.
Junious McConnell Jr. said his counselor has been pushing him to get his dad’s tax forms, and he has bugged his dad every day. “I just got done calling him again just now,” McConnell said Tuesday. “It’s first-come, first-serve. That’s what they tell us, so I just want to hurry, but my dad said he doesn’t have his forms yet.”
McConnell said he is set on going to Regis University.
“Our parents didn’t go to college, so all my friends want to fill out their FAFSA,” McConnell said. “We’re trying.”
Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372 or yrobles@denverpost.com
