In 
early 
December, 
Gov. 
Gretchen Whitmer announced 
the 
“Governor’s 
FAFSA 
Challenge” 
for 
high 
schools 
across the state to increase their 
Free Application for Federal 
Student Aid completion rate 
among graduating seniors. 
The challenge is supported 
by the College Cash Campaign 
initiative under Michigan College 
Access Network, which will 
provide the necessary resources, 
such 
as 
an 
implementation 
guide and toolbox of tips, to help 
participating high schools boost 
their FAFSA completion rate. 
MCAN is aiming for a 75 
percent FAFSA completion rate 
in 2020, a significant jump from 
the 55.9 percent completion rate 
in 2019. 
“Every student deserves a 
path to a quality, affordable 
postsecondary education, and 

filling out FAFSA forms can 
make an enormous difference 
for families across the state,” 
Whitmer said in a press release 
announcing 
the 
challenge. 
“I just finished helping my 
daughter fill out her FAFSA 
application while she applied to 
colleges. It’s simple and can help 
students everywhere get on a 
path to a quality postsecondary 
education.”
Completing the FAFSA online 
form is the only way to secure Pell 
Grants and other federal financial 
aid, as well as most state and 
institutional financial aid. Last 
year, it is estimated that about 
25,000 Michigan students who 
were eligible for the Pell Grant, 
a federal subsidy for college 
distributed to students based on 
need, did not file the FAFSA. That 
means nearly $100 million in Pell 
Grant funding went unused in 
the state of Michigan alone. 
MCAN will work with the 
estimated 
500 
participating 

high schools November through 
March on completing the FAFSA 
and 
scholarship 
applications. 
High schools will be able to 
track their FAFSA completion 
rate through the FAFSA tracker, 
which 
shows 
the 
individual 
school’s completion data and 
trends over time. 
The 
“Governor’s 
FAFSA 
Challenge” includes incentives 
and awards for high schools 
that reach certain levels of 
FAFSA completion. The three 
winning 
high 
schools 
will 
have the opportunity to have 
Whitmer, 
Lieutenant 
Gov. 
Garlin Gilchrist II or another 
prominent Michigan celebrity to 
serve as their commencement, 
or decision day, speaker. The top 
10 geographic winners will win 
a trip to the Capitol and meet 
Whitmer. 
FAFSA completion rates are 
lower in low-income districts 
than in high-income districts, 
according 
to 
College 
Cash 
Campaign. 
Low-income 
high school seniors are 127 
percent more likely to enroll 
in postsecondary education 
after high school if they 
complete the FAFSA than if 
they do not complete it. 
In a statement to The 
Michigan 
Daily, 
Vickie 
Crupper, 
senior 
associate 
director 
of 
the 
Office 
of 
Financial 
Aid 
at 
the 
University 
of 
Michigan, 
said the University’s FAFSA 
completion rates are already 
extremely 
high 
among 
incoming students. 
“Anything done to increase 
access to higher education, 
especially for those from 
low-income backgrounds, is a 
positive step, and we applaud 
the 
governor’s 
initiative,” 
Crupper said. “At U-M we’re 
lucky to have extremely high 
FAFSA 
completion 
rates 
among 
our 
students 
and 
families with need.”
Rackham student Laura 
Rall is president of Affordable 
Michigan, 
a 
student 
organization that works to 

alleviate some of the financial 
barriers to college life, including 
housing, health, food security 
and worker’s rights. 
Rall is from a small rural town 
in Van Buren County, Michigan, 
and believes the “Governor’s 
FAFSA Challenge” is a great 
initiative for encouraging high 
school students to complete the 
FAFSA. She recalled from her 
own experience that her high 
school left students to navigate 
the FAFSA completion process by 
themselves. 
“Because there was no FAFSA 
day at school or anything, if U-M 
hadn’t asked me to fill it out, I 
would never have thought to,” 
Rall said.

Rall said that living in a rural 
area presents other challenges 
to 
applying 
to 
college 
and 
completing the FAFSA, including 
internet 
access 
and 
parent 
availability. 
“Especially coming from my 
lens of a small community and 
an under-resourced community 
… Wi-Fi isn’t a widespread thing, 
just because it’s hard to get Wi-Fi 
in the country, just access to a 
computer to be able to fill out 
that information,” Rall said. “And 
then FAFSA is also relying on a 
parent being around and being 
able to answer the questions for 
you, which is hard with working 
schedules.” 
Given 
its 
high 
FAFSA 
completion 
rates, 
Rall 
said 
the University could increase 
accessibility by recruiting from 
high schools in lower-income and 
rural areas. 
“I know it would be hard for 
U-M to go to all of the different 
schools,” Rall said. “Even just in 
Michigan there’s so many, and a 
lot are spread apart. But I think 
it means a lot, especially when 
you’re a high school or teenage 
student to have someone tell 
you face to face that this is a 
possibility for you.”

MICHIGAN DAILY CL A SS OF 2019

2A — Wednesday, December 11, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News

ALEC COHEN/Daily 
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WEDNESDAY:
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MAEVE O’BRIEN
Daily Staff Reporter

State hopes to raise number of high school students who apply for federal financial aid

Gov. Whitmer announces challenge for 
increasing FAFSA application rates

Read more at 
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Students numb from presidential election coverage

Dec. 11, 2000
While the media, obsessed 
by 
post-presidential 
election coverage, continue 
to indulge political junkies 
with 24-hour election news 
updates, most students are 
now spending their time 
obsessing about final exams 
and term papers
In most other years the 
presidential election would 
have ended more than a 
month ago, but this year’s 
historic counts, recounts 
– 
and 
then 
even 
more 
recounts – are driving some 
students batty.
Many students say they 

don’t have time to pay 
attention, 
while 
others 
simply have lost interest.
“I just want it to be 
decided. 
I 
don’t 
really 
care who gets it,” LSA 
sophomore Michelle Brown 
said 
while 
studying 
at 
Starbucks Coffee on South 
State Street.
“I would kind of just like 
to see it end. It’s making a big 
debacle,” Business School 
senior Kirk Oldford said, 
adding that he has stopped 
paying as much attention to 
every new detail reported 
by the news. “It’s not that I 
don’t care. It;s just going to 

be the same thing over and 
over again. I’m just waiting 
for the end to see what 
happens.”
Proofreading 
a 
paper 
at Angell Hall was more 
important to Oldford that 
focusing 
on 
the 
events 
in 
Florida. 
He 
said 
he 
consistently pays attention 
to general news events, and 
for him the election has 
become just another story. 
But with finals just around 
the corner, study mode has 
set in.
While sitting at an Angell 
Hall computer finishing one 
of his last assignments for 

the semester, Engineering 
senior K. Mannah Kallon 
said he does not believe the 
outcome of the election will 
affect his life.
But Kallon doesn’t care 
what happens in Florida 
and the possibility that Vice 
President Al Gore could 
win the popular vote but 
lose the Electoral College 
has made him disillusioned 
with the system.
“I don’t really care, I 
don’t 
particularly 
have 
strong feelings for either 
candidate,” Kallon said.
Many students do not 
deny the importance of this 

historic election but remain 
critical towards the media’s 
treatment of the election.
“It;s a shame that it’s 
taken up so much of the 
media’s 
attention 
that 
we’ve forgotten there are 
lots of things going on in 
the world right now,” Social 
Work student Carrie Gorga 
said. 
Gorga 
said 
she 
is 
disappointed 
that 
news 
services 
are 
neglecting 
to discuss possible voting 
problems in states other 
than Florida.
“They’ve totally ignored 
the rest of the country,” she 

said, arguing that there are 
disenfranchisement issues 
the media has neglected.
Gorga 
described 
the 
events in Florida as “a 
circus,” saying that she 
believes while the election 
is important, she does not 
understand the need for 
24-hour coverage.
“We’ve got a whole other 
month until somebody is 
sworn in, so I don’t see 
what’s the rush,’ Gorga 
said. 

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