The FAFSA program helps many families send their children to college

The “FAFSA” program has helped countless families obtain college financial aid. Horizonte’s Jose Cardenas spoke with Richard Daniel, Executive Vice President of “Education Forward Arizona,” about applying for FAFSA, and the importance of the program to underserved students who want to attend college.

“FAFSA is very important. It stands for the free application for ‘free federal student aid’ and it’s very important for a couple of reasons. For the first reason, it allows students the opportunity to apply for financial aid both through the federal government and also through institutions of higher education…,” Daniel said.

He continued that it unlocks dollars that are available to them that they wouldn’t otherwise have access to.

Daniel said that over time 7 of 10 students who apply for financial aid will go on to a post-secondary education opportunity at a college or university in their communities or throughout the United States.

As a state of Arizona they have a goal of 52% of students applying for financial aid but that goal decreased during the pandemic.

Daniel said that some people may not apply for FAFSA because they believe they make ‘too’ much money but it’s not true because it gives you access to other resources of what your student can apply for like loans, etc.

For more information on FAFSA go to “azfafsa.org” which gives several resources for apply for federal aid.