In order to graduate from high school in Louisiana, students will soon be required to apply for federal financial aid for college.

The state's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved the new graduation prerequisite earlier this month, and the new policy will go into effect beginning with the class of 2018.

The move makes the Pelican State the first in the country to require students to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, also known as the FAFSA, in order to receive a high school diploma.

The form allows students to tap all kinds of federal student aid, including direct loans and Pell grants, the latter of which students do not need to pay back.

“It’s good and sends the signal to get people to do it, and that’s important,” says Ben Miller, senior director for postsecondary education at the Center for American Progress. “Filling out the form by itself isn’t going to solve our college access challenges, but it is definitely a start. You don’t get any of the money you don’t apply for.”

Louisiana’s FAFSA completion rate for the 2012-2013 school year was 50 percent, but when non-public schools were removed from the calculation, that rate fell to about 44 percent.

Most students are eligible to receive some form of financial aid, and that’s especially true in Louisiana, which was ranked 44th in the nation for median household income in 2013 and 49th in the nation for percentage of residents living below the poverty line in 2012.





“The reality is that thousands of Louisiana students, by not completing a FAFSA, are eliminating themselves from consideration for potentially tens of millions of state and federal financial aid available for postsecondary education and training,” said a report prepared by the Louisiana Department of Education for the state board prior to its adoption of the new graduation requirement.

The new policy was adopted, in large part, to significantly increase the number of students who go to college in the midst of a national hiring trend that’s requiring more employees to have postsecondary degrees.

According to an analysis of occupation data and workforce trends by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, 51 percent of Louisiana jobs will require postsecondary education by 2018.

“This means that over the next four years, Louisiana will need to fill more than 634,000 vacancies when job creation, worker retirement and other factors are taken into account,” the report from the state education department​ read.

Of the graduating class of 2014, 59 percent matriculated into college in the fall semester following graduation, according to the Louisiana Department of Education. That was a 1 percentage point increase in the annual matriculation rate, which has increased by just 4 percentage points since 2011.

Roughly two-thirds of those students enrolled in four-year institutions, while one-third enrolled in two-year colleges. Overall, 92 percent remained in-state while pursuing a postsecondary education.

“If the state is to ever fill the over 600,000 job vacancies requiring some postsecondary education by 2018, then it is imperative that the state, districts, and schools make access to postsecondary education and training less financially onerous for Louisiana students by prioritizing the FAFSA completion process and/or making it mandatory,” the education department report said.

While the new policy is likely to encourage students who are on the cusp of making a decision to apply for college, states in the longer term should look to adopt policies that will target students earlier who aren’t even thinking about applying, Miller says. ​

“I think it’s a reasonable and sensible first step for trying to improve college-going rates,” he says. “Part of the challenge is if you don’t have someone thinking about college until January or so, it’s a little late in the game. What you really want to do is send a signal to students way earlier because you want to reach the people who have dropped out by senior year or written college off as an option.”