The FAFSA Completion Collective

Impact Initiative:

Following the Colorado Model

Colorado Department of Higher Education

Colorado Department of Education

History & Partnership2010 – College Access Challenge

Grant & Colorado Attorney

General approval.

2012 – First year of implementation

in Colorado. FAFSA completion

increased by more than 5

percentage points in a single year.

2014 – Kresge Foundation support to

fund taking the Colorado model to

scale: PLC and/or online tool.

2015 – Year 1 complete. Half way to

goal of 24 participating states.

Kresge

CDE

DHE

Colorado’s FAFSA Hopper

Up to $500,000 savings for partnering states

A Goat

$14 Million

85%

Professional Learning Community

Date Webinar/Meeting Topic

January 2015 Online Tool Technical Demonstration

February 2015 Sharing Data Best Practices

March 2015 FAFSA Completion Strategies

April 2015 Spotlight on State Implementation

June 2015 Celebrating Success & Preparing for Challenges

September 2015 PLC In Person Convening, NCAN Conference

October 2015 Reach Higher FAFSA Summit, White House

Stages of Implementation

The Online ToolCreate simple tool for Colorado district and schools to identify

students who need assistance in accessing higher education

• Created a “plug and play” tool that does not require additional

technology, software or staff training to maintain.

• Accurately match students with schools/districts (4% error rate)

• Help FAFSA be fun and simple – remove the fear and make the

data user friendly

• Emphasize importance of FAFSA as indicator to higher education

by aligning FAFSA and higher education matriculation data

points

• Provide a Colorado history of progress year-over-year

User Circles & Access

Importing Data & Match

Colorado Online Portal

Colorado Online Portal

Colorado Online Portal

Barriers• “I don’t know the first thing about coding or managing

websites.” Requires a solid understanding of the process,

but not technical expertise. Two hours/week.

• “We have a staff of 2.” Easy to maintain. Installation takes

1 day, comes with extensive guides. Colorado is your IT

help desk through October 2017.

• “Free? Yeah, Right.” What’s in it for Colorado?

• “Not as easy to play in the sandbox here in …” We

understand. But remember, money talks think of that $14M

Colorado and 12 additional

States…and counting

Professional Learning Community (PLC)

Both (PLC & Online Tool)

Only Online Tool

Arizona Colorado (Live) Utah

Mississippi Maine

Montana Minnesota

North Carolina Nebraska (Live)

Oregon New Mexico

Washington Washington D.C. (Live)

Questions & Next Steps• Ask Questions - Stephanie.Ricker@dhe.state.co.us

• Engage your state in the PLC and/or the online tool

• Start sharing data with your districts

• Increase FAFSA Completion in your state