Topline:
Nearly three-quarters of California public high school seniors applied for federal financial aid this year, soaring past last year’s figures by 11% and giving further indication that California’s efforts to get more students to apply for federal grants are paying off.
The context: This time last year, about 307,000 high school seniors completed a financial aid application. This year, that number is around 340,000, according to the California Student Aid Commission, which oversees college aid in the state. In 2023 a slightly higher share of seniors completed aid applications — about 74% to this year’s 72.7%. In 2024, the figure was 64%.
The background: A 2021 state law required high schools to ensure their seniors complete financial aid applications. Neglecting to complete the application denies students the ability to receive $22,000 or more in state and federal financial aid in their first year of college.
Read on ... for more about the trend and what it means.
Nearly three-quarters of California public high school seniors applied for federal financial aid this year, soaring past last year’s figures by 11 percent and giving further indication that California’s efforts to get more students to apply for federal grants are paying off.
This time last year about 307,000 high school seniors completed a financial aid application. This year, that number is around 340,000, according to the California Student Aid Commission, which oversees college aid in the state and released the information.
In 2023 a slightly higher share of seniors completed aid applications — about 74% to this year’s 72.7%. In 2024, the figure was 64%.
“We must take a moment to reflect and celebrate this achievement for California’s future,” Daisy Gonzales, the commission’s executive director and who formerly led the state’s community college system, said in a statement. “With more high school seniors applying for financial aid, we can expect our higher education segments to serve more students.”
A spokesperson for the commission, Shelveen Ratnam, said Gonzales and other commission executives were unavailable for an interview.
A 2021 state law required high schools to ensure their seniors complete financial aid applications. Neglecting to complete the application denies students the ability to receive $22,000 or more in state and federal financial aid in their first year of college. Last year the commission conducted market analysis to understand why parents and students do not apply for aid. Among the answers: Families were skeptical that aid can actually be free.
California is expected to spend about $2.9 billion on student financial aid in 2025-26, a major reason why more than half of California residents do not pay any tuition to attend the state’s public universities.
Immigration worries aren’t suppressing applications
Data that the commission shared with CalMatters also shows that more students whose parents don’t have lawful immigration status applied for federal financial aid than last year. Somewhat surprisingly, this year’s figures surpass those from 2023.
The revelation for now rebuffs worries that the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown would prompt more college students to leave federal money on the table to try to protect their parents.
About 64,700 high school seniors from so-called mixed-status families completed a Federal Application for Financial Aid, or FAFSA, in 2023 by the Sept. 2 deadline. In 2024, the figure dropped to just under 60,000. This year, it jumped to over 69,000.
The commission’s numbers capture the number of students who applied for state and federal financial aid in the spring to attend four-year universities and students who applied by Sept. 2 to be eligible for aid to attend community colleges. The decline in 2024 is attributed to major technology issues with a revamped FAFSA that blocked tens of thousands of students whose parents lacked Social Security numbers from completing the aid application.
Unlike federal aid applications, California’s own Dream Act application does not share user data with federal agencies. The vast majority of students complete the FAFSA, though in recent years the commission has suggested to students in mixed status households that it may be safer to apply for just state aid. Other nonprofits focused on college access gave similar advice.
Roughly 3.3 million Californians live in mixed-status households, including 1 in 5 children under 18, according to 2021 data from Equity Research Institute, a USC research group.
The California Dream Act Application gives students access to state tuition waivers and several thousand dollars in other grants, but FAFSA is the only way for students to also receive federal student loans and the Pell grant, which can provide more than $7,000 a year to low-income students.
The student aid commission and its financial aid support partners hosted more than 1,200 workshops on completing financial aid applications this year and trained over 16,000 professionals to help students apply for the aid.
