1. The Demographic of Indiana FAFSA Filers Who Are the Likely Late Filers?
James J. Zheng, Ph.D.
State Student Assistance Commission of Indiana (SSACI)
26th Annual Student Financial Aid Research
Network (SFARN) Conference
June 11-13th, 2009 Indianapolis, IN

2. Data Source
2008 Indiana Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) data
A total of 305,943 FAFSA applications with sufficient data information were included in this study
Indiana FAFSA deadline: March 10, 2008

3. Research Methodology
Goal: To identify which groups of students are more likely to file FAFSA late (or early)
SPSS and SQL: descriptive statistics, frequency distribution & cross tab
Demographic factors: age, gender, marital status, dependent vs. independent students, full time vs. part time students
Socio-economic factors: adjusted gross income (AGI), mother’s education

4. Four Year FAFSA Trend Data
AY 2005
AY 2006
AY 2007
AY 2008
Total Application
270,634
276,624
283,378
305,413
On-time Application
154,890
166,486
165,651
184,044
Percent On-time Application
57%
60%
58%
The four years of FAFSA data ( ) above show each year between 57% and 60% of Indiana students filed their FAFSA before the March 10th deadline.

5. On Time FAFSA (Percent) by Filing Date, AY 2008
Only 8% filed by end of January
Another 44% filed by end of February
A full 48% filed in the last 10 days (3/1--3/10/08)

6. Number of FAFSA Applications by Received Date 3/1/2008 - 3/11/2008

7. By Gender Let’s first look at the gender difference in filing FAFSA
Who are more likely to file FAFSA on time, male or female students?

8. By Gender All Students Who Filed FAFSA On Time
Are male students (62%) more likely than female students (59%) to file FAFSA on time?
Not so fast…
Let’s drill down by students’ marital status

9. By Marital Status All independent, single students
For independent, single students, there was no difference between male and female students (54% on time for both)

10. By Marital Status All independent, married students
Female married students have a higher percentage of on time filing than male counterpart (50% vs. 46%)
Marriage seems to help female students more than male students

11. By Marital Status Separated students with 1 or more dependents
For separated students with dependents, female students are doing much better than male students (46% vs. 39%)
Separated male students with dependents are most likely to file FAFSA late

12. On Time FAFSA Cumulative Percents by Parents' Marital Status (Dependent Students)

13. Independent students (%) Who Filed FAFSA On Time by Household Type

14. By Income How does income affect students’ FAFSA filing?
Do students in the low income category apply early or late?

15. Income Distribution (%) for Dependent Students, AY 2008 Mean= $70,932 Std. Dev.= $59,481 N=137,064

16. Income Distribution (%) for Dependent Students Receiving Award Offers, AY 2008 Mean= $37,541 Std. Dev.= $25,459 N= 43,127

17. FAFSA Data Cumulative Percents by Income Categories (Dependent Students)

18. By Income Dependent Students
Students in the higher income categories apply early
Students from the low income families tend to apply late. Why:
They do not know how to apply
They do not know when to apply
They do not think going to college is one of the priorities in their life
Their parents are not as supportive as high income parents
Other reasons…

19. By Income Independent Students
Just like dependent students, independent students in the low income category tend to apply late as well
Independent students whose income was less than $50,000 were most likely to apply early

20. By Mother’s Education
Does mother’s education have an impact on students’ FAFSA filing correctly and on time?

21. Students (%) Who Filed FAFSA On Time By Mother's Education (Dependent Students)
Much research has shown the positive impact of mother’s education on a child’s well-being
FAFSA data support our hypothesis that the higher the mother’s educational level, the more likely students will file FAFSA on time
Students whose mothers have college education, are more likely to go to college than those students whose mothers having only elementary school education

22. Students (%) Who Filed FAFSA Clean and On Time By Mother's Education (Dependent Students)
Filing Status
Elementary
High School
College+
On-time and Clean
57%
70%
74%
Edit Status
43%
30%
26%
Students whose mothers have college or higher education are only slightly more likely to file FAFSA correctly and on time than students whose mothers have high school education (74% vs. 70%)
However, students whose mothers have high school or college education are significantly more likely to file FAFSA clean and on time than students whose mothers have only elementary school education (70% vs. 57%; and 74% vs. 57%)

23. Summary of Findings
Students tend to wait till the last minute to file FAFSA as shown by the data (48% of all on-time students filed their FAFSA in the last 10 days)
Students ages are most likely to file FAFSA on time (76% for dep. students vs. 51% for ind. students)
For both genders, single students are more likely than married students to file FAFSA on time
Marriage seems to help female students more than male students in terms of filing FAFSA on time (50% vs. 46%)
Male separated students with dependents are most likely to file FAFSA late (39%)

24. Summary of Findings, cont.
Full time students are more likely to file FAFSA on time than part time students (65% vs. 41%)
Dependent students are more likely to file FAFSA on time than independent students (76% vs. 47%)
Students whose parents are married are most likely to file FAFSA on time than students living in a single parent family (78% vs. 65%)

25. Summary of Findings, cont.
Among independent students:
Single without any dependents 52% on time
Married without any dependents 43% on time
Single with one or more dependents 42% on time
Married with one or more dependents 40% on time
Our data seem to suggest that marriage could drag on students going to college

26. Summary of Findings, cont.
Mother’s education has a positive impact on students’ ability to file FAFSA clean and on time
Our data also suggest that attainment of a minimum of high school education for mothers plays an important role in making sure their children take a first step to prepare to go to college by filling out FAFSA correctly and on time

27. Summary of Findings, cont.
Income has a clear impact on students’ FAFSA filing date; students from low income families tend to apply late
Economic disadvantage can transfer to education disadvantage in most societies
Policy implication: 1) targeting low income families; 2) making events like College Goal Sunday more aware among low income families; 3) assisting economically disadvantaged students with filling out their FAFSA; 4) providing extra help and access to get them prepared for going to college

28. Questions/Comments