For many students, financial aid makes college or training after high school a realistic goal. And when higher education feels attainable, students are more likely to pursue it. Texas’ financial aid application graduation requirement encourages students to take an important step toward accessing financial aid. Louisiana adopted a similar policy in 2017. Afterward, the percentage of Louisiana students completing a financial aid application rose from 51.2% to 77.1%.  

This toolkit provides milestones, action items, and supplemental resources to support your campus’ financial aid completion strategy. Keep reading to learn:

    • About Texas’ financial aid application graduation requirement
    • How to build your support team
    • How to get the right training
    • How to conduct outreach
    • How to provide hands-on guidance
    • How to manage and report student progress

Note: Texas OnCourse wants to be a resource for all Texas school counselors and advisors.  When available, we will provide links to documents and resources in both English and Spanish.  When translations are not available, or to view links in other languages, consider using a Google Chrome browser and use the translate function. 

 

Understand Texas’ financial aid application graduation requirement

In 2019, House Bill 3 established a financial aid application graduation requirement. Each student graduating from a Texas public school district or open-enrollment charter school must do one of the following to graduate: 

    • Complete and submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)* 
    • Complete and submit the Texas Application for State Financial Aid (TASFA) 
    • Submit a signed opt-out form 
   Group of grads tossing hat

 

*Note: Please keep in mind that being selected for FAFSA verification does not impact a student's completion of the graduation requirement. The requirement is met when the student submits the FAFSA.

How can a student opt out?

There are three ways students can decline the graduation requirement:

    • Option II: A parent or guardian declines on the student’s behalf or authorizes the student to decline. Whether the student must also sign depends on the option selected on the form.
    • Option III: A school counselor authorizes the student to decline for good cause, as defined by local policy. The school counselor and student must sign the opt-out form.  

School counselors and advisors play an important role in educating students and families about the benefits of completing a financial aid application. Students and families may choose to opt out based on their needs and circumstances. Parents and guardians do not need to provide a reason for choosing to opt out. Even when a student opts out, counselors can continue sharing information about financial aid and available application support. As you support students and families considering the opt-out option, keep the following guidance in mind:  

    • Students declining the graduation requirement need to know they can still apply for financial aid. Point out that application support will be available throughout the school year. 
    • Before you or a family member agrees to sign an opt-out form, talk with the student about their college and career plans. Make sure that students and their families grasp the value of pursuing education and training after high school. And clarify how completing a financial aid application can benefit them. 
    • Some students may have circumstances that prevent them from completing a financial aid application before graduation. Under Option III, a school counselor may authorize a student to decline for good cause as defined by local policy. Talk with the student about their circumstances and available support. If you are unsure when to use Option III, consult your district leadership for guidance. Only a school counselor may provide this authorization; administrators and other advising staff cannot sign in place of the school counselor.  

For a full description of House Bill 3 and the financial aid application graduation requirement, visit the Texas Education Agency’s Financial Aid Requirement page. Here, you can learn about rules that apply to your work. You can also access the financial aid opt-out form and see its requirements. The page also includes data-reporting policies and procedures. 

  

 

Build your support team

You need a solid support team, whether you’re hosting a weekend financial aid event or working with students during class time. With defined roles and responsibilities, your team can ensure that every student gets what they need to complete their application.

   Woman leading casual meeting

 

When building your support team, consider the following resource strategies:

    • Mobilize school staff. School counselors, teachers, librarians, and other support personnel can help you! Ask them to spread financial aid awareness, send reminders to students, and work with students and families on their applications.
    • Solicit staff from local colleges. If your school already works with a local college or university, ask their financial aid department if staff can volunteer at your financial aid events. A dual credit or early college high school coordinator may be able to arrange this support.
    • Contact community-based organizations (CBOs). Local CBOs and college access organizations can often provide support.
    • Enlist local business influencers. Engaging local businesses and other community leaders can help with financial aid outreach. Often, they can donate goods, services, or other incentives to support your initiative.

Resource spotlight: Looking for more ideas on how to build and engage your support team? Check out Texas OnCourse’s Community Partnership Spotlights. These short case studies highlight the financial aid application needs of school districts around the state and the solutions that community organizations found through their partnerships. Find links to resources, action items you can implement, and lessons learned.

  

 

Get the right training

Financial aid training is crucial for a successful completion initiative. You’ll need the right training, and so will your support team. School staff, community partners, and even students can help with outreach, guidance, and follow-up efforts if they feel equipped to do so. 

   Adults in conference setting

 

Keep your training plan reasonable by focusing on these topics:

    • Financial aid basics – where financial aid comes from, what type of aid is out there, how to apply for it, and when to apply for it
    • Financial aid eligibility – understanding which financial aid application is appropriate for the student and when to complete it
    • Steps for completing, submitting, and reviewing both the FAFSA and the TASFA
    • Common student errors and questions

Be sure to check out the Texas OnCourse Academy, a free professional development resource for Texas school professionals. The Academy offers self-paced learning modules on both the FAFSA and TASFA. They’re designed to help you support students as they complete and submit their financial aid applications.

Consider providing different training formats to make it easier for your support team to get involved. For example, you can try out one of these ideas:

    • Host a lunch and learn at a local business. You can then recruit trainees to volunteer at a future financial aid event.
    • Upload a training webinar to your campus website (or record your own).
    • Use a mailing list to share important training resources with your team over the summer and throughout the fall semester.
    • Lead a financial aid training session for teachers or other staff during lunch or on a campus professional development day.

We know you may be short on time during the school year, so consider partners who can support your training efforts. Education service centers, community organizations, and financial aid staff from local colleges or universities may be able to provide or support training for your district. 

  

 

Conduct outreach

To ensure that your financial aid completion efforts are successful, conduct outreach with students and their families. They should understand why financial aid matters and how to get help throughout the application process.

   Woman talking on headset

 

Financial aid isn’t a one-time discussion. Spread the word about why it’s important and how to apply early and often. The following suggestions can help your messaging get the broadest reach:

    • At the beginning of the school year, send students home with the Texas OnCourse Financial Aid Requirement toolkit for families or Financial Aid Requirement toolkit for students. These toolkits provide answers and support for families and students as they meet Texas’ financial aid graduation requirement. You can include it along with other forms or information you give to seniors, post links to toolkits on your school website, or both. Families may be more receptive to change if it’s part of a process they’re already familiar with. 
    • Collaborate with teachers on your campus to use class time for working on financial aid applications. You can host a financial aid information session or have students complete a specific step in the application process, such as creating their StudentAid.gov accounts. Consider working with department leads to create a lesson plan that teachers can easily incorporate into their existing curriculum. 
    • Create an engaging communications strategy to market any opportunities for direct support on campus (e.g., individual student meetings, financial aid events, etc.).  
    • Use a robo text or phone call service to keep students and families on top of important action items and deadlines.  

Resource spotlight: Your students can receive free virtual advising support via text message! The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board developed a chatbot named ADVi – short for advisor – to provide on-demand support to Texas students to help ensure that they receive the information they need to access higher education. When students sign up to receive messages from ADVi, they get:

    • weekly reminders about upcoming deadlines and nudges to complete key college application and enrollment milestones; 
    • 24/7 access to an AI-powered virtual advisor that can answer questions via text; 
    • backup support from our virtual advisors if a student has needs or questions beyond what ADVi can provide; 
    • information and tips to help with their college applications, planning, and financial aid; and 
    • resources to help navigate the transition to college. 

 

High school seniors can opt in through either My Texas Future or ApplyTexas. If students don't receive an invitation to sign up for ADVi on their account dashboard, they can also update their account settings and turn on SMS/Text Message Notifications to begin receiving ADVi text messages. 

Once they’ve opted in to ADVi, they should receive their first text within a week! 

Currently, ADVi only sends outgoing text messages in English. However, students can ask ADVi to respond to their questions in a different language by texting #language (Don't forget the #!). They can also text #human at any time to forward a message to a trained college advisor for personalized support. 

  

 

Provide hands-on guidance

Students are more likely to complete a financial aid application when they have hands-on guidance. Try to meet students and families where they’re at by providing support opportunities during and outside of school hours.

   Male adult helping male student on computer

 

Consider a few ways your campus can work with students and families on the financial aid application process:

    • Host a campus-wide financial aid event on a weeknight or on a weekend to encourage family participation. To further increase turnout, consider raffling gift cards or other small prizes to those in attendance. Keep in mind that some families may need child care in order to attend weeknight or weekend events hosted at the school. Work with campus staff to brainstorm strategies for providing childcare. This should encourage family attendance.
    • Schedule financial aid “office hours” during the school day. This could be on a specific day of the month (e.g., every other Friday) or a specific time of day (e.g., every B day during lunch). Publicize and promote event times so that students and families know when help is available.
    • Use class time to have students complete a specific step in the financial aid process. For example, collaborate with a core content area teacher and give students two class periods in September to learn about financial aid and create their StudentAid.gov accounts.

As you get ready to support students and families through the financial aid process, keep in mind where they’re likely to need assistance:

    • Knowing which application to complete (the FAFSA or TASFA) 
    • Creating a StudentAid.gov account 
    • Providing consent and approval for federal tax information to be transferred directly from the IRS into the FAFSA form 
    • Determining a student’s dependency status 
    • Identifying and inviting the correct FAFSA contributor(s)  
    • Addressing special circumstances 
    • Following up with next steps (completing verification if selected, comparing financial aid offers, accepting aid, etc.) 

Tip: Make sure students use personal email addresses instead of school email addresses to create their FSA IDs. They will need access to the email account after they graduate from high school, and your district firewall may block students from receiving important messages from outside organizations.

During financial aid events, it also helps to have resources available to answer students’ and families’ frequently asked questions:

For more event prep support, download or bookmark Texas OnCourse’s Financial Aid Event Planning Guide.

  

 

Manage and report student progress

School districts and open-enrollment charter schools must report how each student meets the financial aid application graduation requirement. School counselors may support local tracking and documentation procedures.  

   close up of a man's hands at a laptop

 

Each school district and open-enrollment charter school will need to provide proof that students have completed and submitted a financial aid application. One or more of the following methods should be used:

    • ApplyTexas Counselor Suite financial aid application completion data;
    • Notification from the US Department of Education demonstrating that a student has completed and submitted a FAFSA; or
    • Alternate proof permitted under local policy, such as a FAFSA submission confirmation. 

Protecting student privacy
Financial aid forms contain Personally Identifiable Information (PII) that is subject to Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) provisions. The following guidance may help you with collecting and securing financial aid information. Keep in mind that security measures for protecting student data are developed at the local level. Be sure to follow any policies your campus or district has in place.

    • Only collect information that is necessary to demonstrate that a student has met the financial aid application graduation requirement.
    • Keep all financial aid forms and related documentation in secured files that remain confidential. For example, keep physical records in a locked file cabinet or use encryption tools for electronic documents. Encryption provides an extra layer of protection and helps keep data secure on a physical level. Connect with your campus’ IT department if you need help encrypting files on your computer.
    • Only disclose students’ personal information with authorized personnel.
    • Create policies and procedures for when you create, collect, use, process, store, maintain, disseminate, disclose, or dispose of PII relating to financial aid.
    • Do not share students’ financial aid applications or other sensitive information over email. This is an important point to share with students, too. Students should only submit financial aid documents through a college’s secure online portal or by mailing them directly to the college’s financial aid office.
    • Follow applicable state and district records-retention policies when storing or disposing of documentation related to the graduation requirement.  
    • Work with your school’s IT department to assess and monitor risks.


Managing and reporting financial aid application completions
When tracking students’ application progress, remember that students must complete and submit the financial aid application to satisfy the graduation requirement. Simply submitting an incomplete FAFSA does not satisfy the requirement.  

As mentioned, there are several ways that school counselors and school districts can provide proof that students have completed and submitted the FAFSA:

    • ApplyTexas Counselor Suite

Counselors can use the ApplyTexas Counselor Suite dashboard to monitor students’ financial aid application progress and to confirm that a student completed and submitted the application.   

To access the suite, school districts must enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the THECB. Counselors can then email their regional Education Service Center representative to get access to the platform.

    • U.S. Department of Education data

After submitting the FAFSA, students can log in to their StudentAid.gov accounts to review the form’s status and access their FAFSA Submission Summary. If the form cannot be processed or requires corrections, the student should follow the instructions provided by Federal Student Aid.  

    • Local school district policy 

Circumstances may arise that prevent student completion data from populating in your ApplyTexas Counselor Suite. For example, students may select the wrong high school on their application, or students may move to your campus after they complete financial aid applications. As a result, it may be necessary for you to collect alternate proof of completion from the students. In these instances, remember to follow privacy guidelines and consult your district policy for specific procedures.

    • PEIMS and TREx Reporting Standards 

Districts are required to report the financial aid application graduation requirement in TSDS PEIMS and in Texas Records Exchange (TREx) System for each student. Use this Financial Aid Graduation Requirement Reporting Infographic to help you complete these important documentation requirements.

Managing and reporting opt-out forms
School districts and open-enrollment charter schools must document which students submit an opt-out form. School counselors may support this process according to local procedures. Maintain documentation of each submitted form according to applicable state and district records-retention policies. Follow local requirements for securely storing paper or electronic records.  

  

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Resource Library

Need help getting your financial aid completion initiative off the ground? The following resources can help.

 

Understand Texas’ graduation requirement

 

Build your support team


Get training

 

Conduct outreach


Provide hands-on guidance

 

Manage and report student completion progress

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