Kaitlyn Venta is the Director of Affordability for the Missouri College and Career Attainment Network—or MOCAN. She was one of the many representatives at the Cape Regional College Fair which was held Thursday, October 26th at the Student Recreation Center at Southeast Missouri State University.
While crowds of high school students, counselors, advisors, and parents all filtered through the over 60 booths, there is likely one concern that was top-of-mind—how to pay for college.
After recent legislation, known as the FAFSA Simplification Act, the answer to that question may have changed.
Venta, from MOCAN, explained the change in the deadline and what is different this year.
"Normally, [the application process] opens October 1, [now] it is going to open sometime in December, which means students have less time to complete it. So we want students to know that so that they're ready when the form does open to be able to complete it to be eligible for financial aid", said Venta.
And there is another big change—parent or guardian involvement with their college applicant—Hint: it’s not just up to the adults anymore.
Venta, continued, "There will be a student section that students complete and a parent section that parents complete. No longer can a parent do the entire FAFSA or students do the entire FAFSA, students and parents have to work together".
She added, "So it's important that they are on board ready to go educated and know what they need to do for the FAFSA".
Venta explained the role MOCAN plays in navigating this sometimes complicated process.
"So, at MOCAN [Missouri College and Career Attainment Network], we developed a website called mofafsa.org. We wanted one place that students, parents, counselors, and advisors could go to get clear, trusted FAFSA information", said Venta.
She added, "If you have questions about the FAFSA, you're curious about how to set up your federal student aid [FSA] ID go to MOFAFSA.org, and that will have all the information you need about how to get started with the FAFSA process".
After seeing the many financial challenges for students and the gap in their college or post-high school aspirations, Kaitlyn Venta shares why she made a career change of her own.
She talked about her journey. "I have been working with students and college access and attainment for about 14 years. I used to work directly with students supporting them through the application process and into college, and I noticed a number of really exceptional students who [were] getting into great schools but were not able to pay for the school because they couldn't get enough financial aid", said Venta.
"So about four years ago, I made the change to working with scholarships specifically with my Scholarship Central, because I wanted to help more students get the money that they need for college".
Acknowleding the challenge she added, "College is expensive, but it is worth it and there is money out there available. You just have to put in the work to get it".
We also spoke with one of the organizers of the event at Southeast Missouri State—Brooke Lockhart, who is the Associate Director of the Transfer Center in the Office of Admissions at Southeast Missouri State University.
She was pleased with the turnout for the event.
"We have over 60 institutions represented between four-year colleges, two-year colleges— we have service branches, trade schools— lots of different organizations have come to provide post-secondary options for high school students", said Lockhart.
"And we have almost one thousand high school students that have made their way through the college [fair] here this morning". She added, "We have 27 high schools represented from Southeast Missouri in Southern Illinois".
It was just after 10 a.m. during our visit, and there were many students from various area schools lined up near the entrance to the Student Recreation Center, who looked anxious to walk through the Cape Regional College Fair, browse the various options, and speak with school recruiters in person.
Lockhart explained how the event has been different this year, and the changes in helping the prospective students and their support system navigate the application process.
"Right now, we're getting lots of questions from families and parents about what they can do in the meantime [while waiting for the FAFSA application to open up], and we've been providing some financial aid awareness, getting them prepared for the upcoming changes", said Lockhart.
The updated FAFSA information for Missouri students can be found at MOFAFSA.org. For students attending college during the 2024-2025 school year, the FAFSA form will open in December 2023, but at the time of this college fair, an exact date had not been set.
However, students can prepare for completing the FAFSA now by creating the FSA ID, and have a parent or guardian complete one too. If the FAFSA was completed earlier, the same FSA ID can be used.
As the late October event concluded around 11 a.m. on Thursday, many Juniors and Seniors headed back to their high schools with much more to think about, and hopefully more information to make a decision about their post-secondary career, and beyond.
