Nebraska makes FAFSA a graduation requirement; Education Quest leads coaching, grants and an ad campaign

Nebraska this year made filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) — or submitting a signed opt-out form — a high school graduation requirement for public seniors in the 2024–25 academic year, speakers said at a Midwestern Higher Education Compact webinar.

Daphne Hall, senior vice president of college access at Education Quest Foundation, said the law aims to increase the share of Nebraskans with diplomas, degrees or industry credentials by 2030. “FAFSA filing is required for all public high school seniors,” she said, while noting the statute allows an opt-out signed by a parent, an emancipated student, a student 19 or older, or a principal/designee.

How Nebraska is implementing the requirement: Education Quest described three coordinated efforts. First, a certified FAFSA coach program (developed with U Aspire) trained 75 coaches from 26 organizations in its initial offering; participants received stipends and drafted local implementation plans. Second, Education Quest awarded Do the FAFSA Nebraska completion grants (reimbursement model) to schools and community organizations — grant awards ranged from $400 to $2,500 depending on enrollment; 64 recipients were selected and, with roughly half the reports returned at the time of the webinar, those grants had supported 62 events with more than 1,500 attendees. Third, a public awareness campaign used multi-channel advertising (social, streaming, radio, billboards) and distributed swag and printed materials to every senior; the campaign’s landing page is dothefafsa.org.

Reagan Anson, vice president of communications, described the ad creative and distribution tactics — including social shorts and influencer content — that aimed to generate attention and lower barriers to completing FAFSA. She said the campaign used National College Attainment Network assets and earned a Nebraska ADDY for one spot.

State coordination and tracking: The Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education hosts Nebraska’s FAFSA completion website and public dashboard. Richie Morrow, financial aid officer at the commission, said the portal was adapted from a Colorado resource and tracks public twelfth graders; authorized high school staff sign a multi-year agreement to access student-level data. Morrow described frequent ‘missing student’ requests tied to name mismatches and said staff handle those manually to reconcile records.

Early results and uncertainties: Panelists reported an early completion rate near 46 percent at the time of the webinar but said the state does not yet publicly report the number of opt-outs until an end-of-year submission to the legislature; that leaves uncertainty about whether lower-than-expected event attendance reflects prior opt-outs or students who intend to file later. Daphne and other panelists emphasized that year-one implementation is a learning process for counselors and schools.

Sources and next steps: Education Quest and the Coordinating Commission urged continued training and use of the social press kit and resources shared with school counselors. Webinar materials include the task-force implementation guide and a lesson plan mapped to state standards for classroom instruction.

Sources: Presentation and Q&A at the Midwestern Higher Education Compact webinar (Education Quest Foundation presenters Daphne Hall, Eric Drumheller, Reagan Anson; Richie Morrow, Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education).