Monterey High School has been named a FAFSA Champion for its percentage of students who filled the federal student aid paperwork.
Monterey increased the percentage of students who filled out the FAFSA by five percent, raising the school’s total to 79.2 percent. Monterey High School School Counselor Marcy Milligan said the school has focused on improving its FAFSA percentage so more students can have post-secondary school opportunities.
“That FAFSA is not only a way to find out how they can be supported financially, but it’s also one of those things that enables them to use those Tennessee Promise dollars and those HOPE dollars,” Milligan said.
Principal Bree Wheeler said she is proud of the students and parents for filling out the FAFSA. Wheeler said hosting FAFSA events for parents and students contributed to the increase.
“The FAFSA is very much a parent and student document,” Wheeler said. “Both sets of folks have to do their part and complete it. And so we did have a couple of evenings that we offered pizza to come and help, and come and get help here at school. We also had several parents just make appointments with Ms. Milligan to have a one-on-one assistance with filling this out, and we just kept advertising it. So we had this big foam finger that stayed out and about, and kept it in their ear and kept encouraging for participation as well.”
Milligan said the school system has already held three FAFSA events this year and has also added Tennessee Advise to help as well. Milligan said filling out the FAFSA can be a challenging process.
“It requires parents and students to be in the same place, sometimes together, to get that filled out,” Milligan said. “It requires past tax information. It also requires keeping up with passwords and usernames, and as we all know in this day in age, that can get a little bit confusing after a while. And so just helping people to kind of move through the process and understand each step of the process so that they feel empowered and they are not feeling overwhelmed to the point where they say, ‘I don’t want to do this.’”
Schools can also become a FAFSA champion by achieving over 90 percent of students filling out the FAFSA. Wheeler said the goal is to have over 90 percent every year.
Wheeler said the school is using the recognition to encourage students and parents to fill out the FAFSA. Wheeler said the FAFSA period opened up earlier than normal this year, and many parents may not even know the period is already open.