Exponent Telegram: FAFSA completion rate good news for West Virginia
The recent news that 52 percent of West Virginia high school seniors completed a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is good news for the state.
Young people who complete this process become eligible for student aid, such as grants, scholarships and loans, that can help them obtain a college education.
Some West Virginia students who see the cost of a college tuition, plus what they might have to pay for room and board, and feel overwhelmed.
But there’s lots of help for those who are eligible, and that’s especially true for those who are economically disadvantaged.
All that said, the idea of completing the FAFSA can be a daunting one. It requires information from the income tax forms of the students’ parents, as well as their own income tax forms. And there’s other information to complete, as well.
Add in that all this has to be done by computer, and some might never start the process, while others may not follow through and finish it.
That’s why it’s so exciting to see the story recently reported by MetroNews, that the state ranked fourth out of all 50 states for completion of the FAFSA. That was up from 10th place last year, MetroNews reported.