Advocacy Timeline
- March 2019: Executive Director Kristina Scott delivered testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, calling them to streamline the FAFSA and reduce the burden of verification. Read more about the testimony, including the complete text of her testimony.
- October 2023 – Present: As a member organization of the National College Attainment Network, Alabama Possible joins other college access and success organizations in providing feedback on the new FAFSA form to Federal Student Aid. The Alabama Goes to College campaign learns and elevates common concerns and issues while supporting Alabama educators and families with the postsecondary planning process.
- January 2024: Alabama Possible writes a letter that calls on college and university presidents around the state to extend priority deadlines for financial aid while technical issues related to the new FAFSA rollout get resolved. The delayed opening of the 2024-25 FAFSA, along with the technical issues experienced during the first month, presented challenges for families trying to meet financial aid deadlines.
- February 2024: Alabama Possible joins organizations across the county by signing on to ImmSchools public comment to the U.S. Department of Education, advocating for resolution to technical issues prohibiting students from mixed status families to successfully apply for and receive financial aid.
- April 2024: Given the significant challenges related to the new FAFSA’s delayed release, Alabama Possible signs on to letter by The Today’s Students Coalition urging the U.S. Department of Education to ensure students have the support necessary to complete the FAFSA before losing access to educator assistance after graduation.
Advocacy Wins
- December 2020: The FAFSA Simplification Act passed on Dec. 27, 2020 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, resulting in a significant overhaul of federal student aid, including the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. Major changes include implementation of a Direct Data Exchange, which allows federal tax information to be transferred directly from the Internal Revenue Service to the U.S. Department of Education so that the majority of families do not have to manually input this information.