In a staunch response to Arizona's alarming drop in FAFSA completion rates, Governor Katie Hobbs is injecting a $500,000 boost to rev up the state's resources and support aimed at getting more families to easily navigate the financial aid maze. Educational accessibility is one of the top items on Hobbs' agenda, and this recent move squarely aims to shore up the lagging numbers that put Arizona near the very bottom nationwide – ranking 49th in FAFSA submissions.

The Governor isn't merely opening the financal spigot; she's taken to the ground to call upon educators and leaders statewide to step in to help high school seniors, who are on the brink of potentially transforming their lives through higher education, to successfully submit their FAFSA applications. In a bid to clearly demonstrate the power of collective efforts, she has declared April the "Finish Line to the FAFSA" month, urging a sprint to the end of the academic year where dreams can, and should, freely unfold into college acceptances paired with accessible funding. Hobbs herself knows this power firsthand, telling azgovernor.gov, “FAFSA has helped millions of families, and for many can be the final piece that makes their child’s dream of attending college a reality. I strongly encourage every Arizona family who has a graduating high school senior to submit their FAFSA this month.”

The financial windfall, derived from Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools (EANS) federal funding, will support a surge in state-sponsored FAFSA completion events, bolster resources to assist families and students, and back initiatives that aggressively push for increased submissions during the summer and beyond. The Arizona Board of Regents is set to distribute these funds and lead the charge with resources including a FAFSA calendar, virtual events, a hotline, text message support, and tools for educators to track FAFSA completion.

Resources pooled by a statewide FAFSA coalition are already waiting in the wings, according to the governor's office, ready to be deployed to assist Arizona's potential collegians. Support systems like the innovative Arizona College Connect and the readily available Ask Benji text service stand to fluidly integrate into this concerted effort. For easy access, these resources and tools have been centralized at CollegeReadyAZ.com/FAFSA, a portal now poised to become a beacon for college hopefuls and their families navigating the financial aid process.