Weldon City Schools and Halifax County Schools have officially accepted North Carolina’s First in FAFSA Challenge to help send more local high school seniors to college. 

FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid program.

All high schools are competing against each other and hundreds of other high schools across the state to increase their FAFSA completion rates.

The challenge is being sponsored by My Future NC, Carolina Demography, the College Foundation of North Carolina, the College Advising Corps, the Hunt Institute and the John M. Belk Foundation.

The aim of the challenge is to motivate students to take advantage of free federal aid to help them pay for college. Studies show students who complete the FAFSA are far more likely to enroll in higher education. 

“The FAFSA is the first step to free or affordable college so we are thrilled to see 100 percent of our school districts across North Carolina participating in our First in FAFSA Challenge,” said Cecilia Holden, CEO of myFutureNC. “We are especially grateful to the district leaders, school principals, counselors, faculty, and staff at these high schools who are helping so many students and their families complete the FAFSA and take that first step for a lifetime of opportunity and success.”

NC First in FAFSA launched the inaugural FAFSA Challenge this semester to encourage high schools to earn the highest FAFSA completion rate and implement innovative strategies to support FAFSA completion locally. There have been 494 North Carolina high schools — 75 percent — which have registered across the state.

Schools compete in the challenge with schools of similar size and type, with winners earning a $500 grant in each of the following categories: 

Highest percentage of completed FAFSAs 

Highest percent increase in FAFSA completion rate

Best FAFSA completion strategy 

The challenge will conclude on June 30 with winners announced by July 31. 

Schools can keep track of their progress with the NC First in FAFSA Tracker to identify specific areas of need and create targeted efforts to increase attainment. 

Final FAFSA completion rates are calculated using FAFSA completion data from the United States Department of Education and final high school graduation counts from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. 

Updates to the leaderboard are made on the second Tuesday of each month. Winners will be announced in Summer 2021.

North Carolina First in FAFSA is a myFutureNC collaborative that focuses on increasing the number of high school seniors who complete the FAFSA application. “Increasing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid completion rate is a fundamental step in North Carolina’s efforts to meet our state’s 2 million by 2030 postsecondary educational attainment goal. Students who complete the FAFSA are more likely to enroll in higher education, persist in their college coursework, and obtain a degree.” 

For more information on NC First in FAFSA, visit this link