ST.
LOUIS, June 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- MOHELA
announced the awarding of critical funding for Missouri's student community through its
Foundation, the Missouri Scholarship & Loan Foundation.
MOHELA's Foundation awarded over $88,600 in funding to support more than 110
community events hosted by local colleges, universities, high
schools, and nonprofit organizations across 70 Missouri counties through its Free Application
for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Completion Mission-Mini Grants
program.
"We anticipated challenges with the rollout of the new FAFSA for
2024-2025, but no one predicted the extent of the delay and
glitches students and families would face when trying to complete
the form," said Melissa Findley,
Executive Director of the Missouri Scholarship & Loan
Foundation. "Our Mission-Mini Grants provide essential funding
to ensure Missouri's student
community is well-informed on the latest FAFSA changes, best
positioning students to access critical financial aid assistance
for their higher education journey and boosting our state's overall
FAFSA completion rates."
The goal of the Foundation's FAFSA Completion Mission-Mini
Grants program is to boost FAFSA completion rates in Missouri by supporting community events that
provide educational resources and tools to help high school
counselors, students and families better understand the application
process and the overall importance of the FAFSA program for
accessing critical financial aid from the U.S. Department of
Education's Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), which includes
federal grants, scholarships, and loans. The FAFSA information is
also used by schools and nonprofits to determine eligibility for
non-federal grants, scholarships, and loans.
"Many students rely on FAFSA and the financial assistance it
provides to pursue their higher education goals," said
Scott Giles, CEO and Executive
Director of MOHELA. "FAFSA completion is one of the most
important steps students can take to pay for college, but the
confusion surrounding the rollout of this year's new FAFSA program
presented unprecedented challenges for families navigating the
application process. This year's challenges make the Foundation's
commitment to boosting FAFSA completion in our communities more
valuable than ever."
The Foundation's Mission-Mini Grants, which totaled $91,693 for the 2023-2024 academic year, provided
financial support for FAFSA events in 70 counties across
Missouri, as shown in the map. The
Foundation awarded an initial $50,000
in FAFSA completion grants by the end of February 2024 (indicated by green check marks).
To support the rise in community demand for additional resources to
address the ongoing challenges students faced with the rollout of
the new program, the Foundation began awarding the second round of
funding in March 2024 (indicated by
blue check marks).
The delayed opening of the FAFSA application process and ongoing
challenges with the rollout have affected students across the
country. According to the National College Attainment Network's
FAFSA Tracker, 39.8% of Missouri
high school seniors had completed the 2024-2025 FAFSA as of
May 31, 2024, which was below the
national average of 43.3%. Compared to last year, Missouri has had a -13.2% change in
FAFSA completion, compared to a -13.5% change nationally.
Missouri is currently ranked 32nd
nationally in FAFSA completions, emphasizing the importance of the
work of MOHELA's Foundation to help increase the state's FAFSA
completion rate.
The Missouri Scholarship & Loan Foundation was established
by MOHELA in 2010 to enhance accessibility and affordability of
higher education for Missouri
families. In the last five years, the Foundation has assisted more
than 8,500 students in the local community, distributing a total of
$17.5 million in scholarships and
grants, and $24.2 million in
interest-free loans for Missouri
students during the 2018-2023 academic years.
During the 2023-2024 academic year, MOHELA also contributed
$6 million in total to Access
Missouri, Missouri's A+ Program,
and Bright Flight, which support student scholarships and
grants.
Learn about the Missouri Scholarship & Loan Foundation and
its programs at moslf.org. Learn more about MOHELA's
contributions to Missouri
here.
About MOHELA
MOHELA is a governmental non-profit organization with 40 years of
experience and a track record of providing exceptional customer
service to the borrowers it serves. MOHELA plays an essential role
in the federal student loan ecosystem, providing support and
assistance for around eight million federal borrowers on behalf of
the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Federal Student Aid
(FSA). The organization is frequently named a top servicer in FSA
quarterly surveys due to its commitment to providing high-quality
customer service to their borrowers.
In 2023, MOHELA was proud to assist more than six million
federal borrowers in their return to repayment. MOHELA's customer
service team facilitated over 3.1 million customer service calls
and processed more than 2.36 million Income-Driven Repayment Plan
applications and over 2.58 million payments to the federal
government on behalf of borrowers throughout 2023.
During MOHELA's time as the interim Public Service Loan
Forgiveness (PSLF) servicer (July
2022 through April 2024),
MOHELA processed nearly $55 billion
in PSLF forgiveness for nearly 737,000 borrowers at the direction
of FSA - a record-high for the government-run program. In the
five-year period prior to MOHELA becoming the interim PSLF
servicer, only about 165,000 borrowers had received $10.5 billion in loan forgiveness.
Media Contact: media@mohela.com
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SOURCE MOHELA