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Advisory board outlines winter–spring FAFSA priorities after early data show equity gaps
Summary
At a December advisory meeting, Washington Complete's FAFSA advisory board reviewed early-class-of-2026 data showing a 28% FAFSA/WASFA completion rate and discussed near-term actions — a challenge week, school‑day integration, parent outreach via OtterBot, and OSPI coordination — to close completion gaps for low-income and underrepresented students.
Sarah Weiss, director of college access initiatives for the Washington Complete FAFSA campaign, opened the advisory board’s December meeting and asked members to turn data and earlier commitments into concrete winter and spring actions.
“We launched together on November 7 to set roles and expectations,” Natalie Alvarado of WASAC told members as she reviewed campaign goals. “As of December 15, the class of 2026 FAFSA and WASFA completion rate is 28 percent, and we’ve seen 24,248 completions so far for both FAFSA and WASFA.”
Alvarado said the campaign is aiming for 46,000 total completions for the class of 2026 and a 6-point boost in completion among students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch. She flagged an equity gap: eligible students are completing at about 23% versus 28% overall and racial and ethnic disparities in filing could widen…
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