Publication Date: May 2, 2001
Author: General Manager: SFA Student Channel
Summary: Ideas for Promoting FAFSA on the Web
Posted on May 2, 2001
To: Financial Aid Administrators
From: Jennifer Douglas
Acting General Manager, Students Channel
RE: Ideas for Promoting FAFSA on the Web
Over the past few years we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of students using FAFSA on the Web to apply and reapply for financial aid. Student Financial Assistance (SFA) has taken numerous steps to encourage electronic filing, but it’s really the hard work and dedication of you – the financial aid administrator – that has made the biggest difference! As you know, there are many benefits to electronic filing: faster processing time, fewer errors and rejected applications, ease of use, and reduced overall cost, to name just a few. I am extremely grateful to all of you for your support of this exciting way to apply for financial aid.
That said, I believe there is still more that can be done to increase the number of electronic applications that are filed each year, and I’d like to ask you to consider what more you can do to encourage your students to file online.
To get you started, I’d like to share with you some creative approaches your colleagues are taking to promote electronic filing. SFA recently talked to several financial aid administrators at schools where about 50% of their students are using FAFSA on the Web. We asked them what they were doing to achieve these impressive results and they were happy to tell us. Their strategies were innovative and creative, and I’d like to share them with you because they might be helpful to you as you begin to develop your 2002-2003 publications and financial aid application materials.
By clicking on the link below, you will see a flyer that describes how three of the schools we talked to have promoted FAFSA on the Web to their students. As you’ll notice, each school uses a somewhat different approach to communicate their FAFSA on the Web message.
You’ve probably developed some effective and unique strategies of your own that you’d like to share with your colleagues. If so, please e-mail them to:
marilyn.leblanc@ed.gov.Thank you for helping SFA to get the word out: FAFSA on the Web is the way to go!!