High school FAFSA filing update: Week 14

Week 14 is a significant milestone in the new FAFSA timeline because that’s the number of weeks early FAFSA added to the 2017-18 filing cycle. We’ve been keeping track of the weekly total number of forms submitted and completed, shown below.

Week 14 trend

The “week is cycle” approach is a little tricky to interpret since Week 1 of each cycle starts at different times of the calendar year. This chart tells us between Oct 1 and Dec 30, 2016, about 1.13 million high school seniors (18 or younger) filed for the first time. The number was about 1.43 million for last year’s cycle, which ran from Jan 1 to April 1, 2016.

Last year, the weekly growth in FAFSA completions started to slow down around April. We still have about 10 weeks to go until then, so we anticipate the gaps in the two lines (about 300,000 students, or 26%) should start to close and eventually the black line will cross back over the gray. But if that doesn’t happen, or if we end up where we were last year in terms of overall completion, then I will be curious to see what folks point to as the underlying reason(s). And I’ll be even more curious if the elongated filing cycle brought with it any unintended consequences, like reducing the amount of state aid late-cycle filers receive.

FAFSA completion by state and week:

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
AK 154 320 446 612 764 873 1,064 1,126 1,286 1,352 1,436 1,478 1,524
AL 1,611 3,054 4,555 5,810 7,159 8,068 9,249 9,677 10,956 11,582 12,127 12,426 12,716
AR 1,377 2,567 3,726 4,738 5,743 6,395 7,368 7,685 8,383 8,811 9,143 9,393 9,639
AZ 4,143 6,061 7,914 9,734 11,405 12,508 14,398 15,009 16,068 16,832 17,543 18,034 18,742
CA 17,987 32,495 46,924 60,863 73,850 82,765 95,905 100,917 113,508 119,063 124,161 127,823 131,153
CO 2,991 5,466 7,766 9,703 11,551 12,638 14,427 14,951 16,303 16,910 17,473 17,873 18,323
CT 2,351 4,227 5,896 7,879 9,766 10,806 12,429 13,090 14,442 15,136 15,780 16,332 16,857
DC 234 421 572 738 926 1,045 1,237 1,310 1,496 1,585 1,670 1,746 1,804
DE 416 785 1,123 1,452 1,841 2,072 2,449 2,606 2,882 3,070 3,232 3,343 3,460
FL 11,419 17,703 23,769 28,665 33,335 36,247 40,033 41,657 45,760 48,037 50,730 51,993 53,227
GA 3,056 5,701 8,000 10,268 12,438 13,992 16,337 17,269 19,358 20,613 21,816 22,703 23,718
HI 1,162 1,787 2,342 2,841 3,276 3,533 3,905 4,087 4,407 4,593 4,787 4,932 5,064
IA 1,634 3,094 4,331 5,580 6,710 7,646 8,975 9,712 11,672 12,195 12,587 12,894 13,179
ID 562 1,128 1,741 2,463 3,190 3,594 4,259 4,449 5,204 5,443 5,636 5,759 5,895
IL 23,489 34,065 42,338 49,007 54,998 57,738 61,774 63,228 66,707 68,223 69,645 72,491 73,460
IN 2,684 4,879 7,061 9,250 11,509 12,751 15,012 15,841 17,701 18,651 19,411 19,979 20,736
KS 1,694 2,877 3,956 5,175 6,231 6,876 7,690 8,016 8,790 9,145 9,420 9,606 9,841
KY 9,186 12,388 14,689 16,386 17,654 18,342 19,277 19,688 20,611 21,078 21,499 21,711 21,910
LA 1,456 2,829 4,132 5,312 6,535 7,428 8,667 9,048 9,957 10,610 11,219 11,550 11,931
MA 2,995 6,003 8,763 12,027 15,643 17,903 21,119 22,251 24,700 26,005 27,268 28,367 29,443
MD 3,595 6,108 8,329 10,415 12,536 13,801 15,609 16,347 17,905 18,733 19,659 20,267 21,000
ME 1,111 1,941 2,693 3,340 3,944 4,312 4,806 4,970 5,308 5,501 5,694 5,836 5,941
MI 6,033 10,376 14,731 19,198 23,179 25,449 28,477 29,909 33,034 34,547 35,764 36,641 37,570
MN 2,302 4,232 6,032 8,344 10,429 11,721 13,636 14,595 16,635 17,505 18,322 18,908 19,642
MO 3,553 6,177 8,573 10,833 12,951 14,235 16,338 17,059 18,831 19,694 20,461 20,977 21,516
MS 717 1,521 2,413 3,233 3,871 4,499 5,351 5,636 6,392 6,875 7,382 7,587 7,779
MT 291 662 949 1,292 1,780 2,075 2,548 2,717 3,443 3,564 3,652 3,691 3,736
NC 5,452 9,189 12,307 15,103 18,120 19,933 22,953 24,269 26,853 28,155 29,297 30,151 31,084
ND 108 209 324 467 608 701 824 896 1,066 1,165 1,241 1,297 1,370
NE 1,119 2,071 2,990 3,858 4,672 5,314 6,090 6,463 7,107 7,502 7,835 8,085 8,312
NH 533 1,058 1,512 2,039 2,613 3,015 3,556 3,750 4,177 4,427 4,683 4,867 5,041
NJ 4,875 8,957 12,808 16,693 20,837 23,361 27,646 29,477 34,024 35,722 37,390 38,654 39,879
NM 595 1,126 1,743 2,328 2,842 3,208 3,806 4,030 4,533 4,791 5,012 5,131 5,283
NV 2,587 3,676 4,542 5,319 6,256 6,653 7,178 7,335 7,790 8,054 8,278 8,440 8,579
NY 8,152 15,264 22,293 30,150 37,996 43,111 51,361 54,919 61,595 65,697 69,653 72,782 75,545
OH 6,320 11,462 16,247 20,779 25,197 27,933 32,022 33,919 39,110 40,844 42,290 43,241 44,304
OK 2,377 3,989 5,335 6,557 7,755 8,358 9,174 9,477 10,212 10,651 11,139 11,339 11,584
OR 5,327 7,491 9,346 10,884 12,267 13,064 14,088 14,475 15,287 15,745 16,133 16,326 16,572
PA 6,098 11,082 15,412 19,755 24,102 26,863 31,075 32,865 36,120 38,293 40,208 41,680 43,366
RI 344 690 998 1,323 1,683 1,912 2,337 2,500 2,844 3,084 3,300 3,454 3,605
SC 1,844 3,108 4,437 5,726 6,944 7,720 8,783 9,198 10,315 10,913 11,462 11,809 12,207
SD 174 425 615 804 1,000 1,134 1,320 1,440 1,660 1,774 1,867 1,954 2,085
TN 8,765 12,746 16,642 20,089 23,132 24,692 26,780 27,564 29,369 30,999 32,686 33,529 34,412
TX 19,353 32,086 43,102 52,796 60,926 66,364 74,612 77,268 84,555 88,291 91,565 93,687 95,749
UT 707 1,316 1,985 2,712 3,524 4,192 5,291 5,698 6,887 7,305 7,606 7,781 8,030
VA 3,820 6,963 9,625 12,469 15,031 16,678 19,325 20,414 22,734 24,049 25,412 26,317 27,390
VT 242 537 838 1,188 1,554 1,673 1,883 1,938 2,101 2,178 2,268 2,336 2,421
WA 6,011 9,283 12,183 14,686 16,940 18,198 20,026 20,755 22,529 23,379 24,091 24,587 25,118
WI 2,985 5,327 7,431 9,449 11,521 12,963 14,910 15,813 17,990 19,058 19,945 20,711 21,446
WV 572 1,249 1,825 2,370 2,948 3,349 3,916 4,075 4,427 4,668 4,926 5,117 5,265
WY 173 436 654 858 1,012 1,142 1,325 1,390 1,539 1,614 1,666 1,709 1,751

Source: https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/about/data-center/student/application-volume/fafsa-completion-high-school