Michigan College Access Network awards $30,000 to schools for FAFSA efforts

LANSING, Mich. — Michigan College Access Network (MCAN) is pleased to announce the 21 winning high schools in the Dash for Cash FAFSA incentive program. In total, MCAN is awarding $30,000 to high schools that demonstrated increases in their FAFSA completion rates.

Michigan’s FAFSA completion rate is currently at 48.2%, down from 53.3% in May of last year. The Dash for Cash program was designed to help close the FAFSA completion gap by incentivizing school districts to increase their FAFSA submission rates. Open to all Michigan high schools, the program challenged schools to increase the number of seniors that had submitted the FAFSA in the 30-day period from April 1 to May 1, leveraging the extension of the Michigan priority FAFSA deadline. Dash for Cash efforts led to the improvement of overall FAFSA completion rates compared to last year, with increases at winning schools ranging from 5% to 64%.

“MCAN is proud to celebrate the winning schools and their success in increasing FAFSA completion rates. Through the Dash for Cash initiative, schools went above and beyond to provide students with the support they needed to complete this critical step in the college-going process,” said Ryan Fewins-Bliss, MCAN executive director. “Greater access to financial aid is essential to meeting our state’s Sixty by 30 goal and ensuring that every student in Michigan has the opportunity to attend college — especially low-income students, first-generation college-going students and students of color.”

The competing high schools were placed into three brackets: large schools (with senior classes over 200 students); medium schools (between 75 – 200 seniors); and small schools (less than 75 seniors). Awards of $2,500 and $1,000 were given to schools with the highest increases in their overall FAFSA completion rate from last year and the largest increases in their FAFSA completion rate within the program’s 30 days. The winners by region include:

CENTRAL & EASTERN MICHIGAN

• $2,500 – Evart High School (Evart, Mich.)
• $1,000 – Great Lakes Bay Early College (University Center, Mich.)
• $1,000 – Meridian Early College High School (Sanford, Mich.)
• $1,000 – Port Huron High School (Port Huron, Mich.)

NORTHERN LOWER PENINSULA & UPPER PENINSULA

• $2,500 – Sault Area High School (Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.)
• $1,000 – DeTour Middle High School (DeTour, Mich.)
• $1,000 – Ogemaw Heights High School (West Branch, Mich.)
• $1,000 – Rudyard Area High School (Rudyard, Mich.)

SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN

• $2,500 – Milford High School (Highland Township, Mich.)
• $2,500 – Oxford Virtual Academy (Oxford, Mich.)
• $2,500 – Pioneer High School (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
• $1,000 – Belleville High School (Belleville, Mich.)
• $1,000 – Clintondale High School (Clinton Charter Township, Mich.)
• $1,000 – Conner Creek Academy East – Michigan Collegiate (Warren, Mich.)
• $1,000 – Detroit Leadership Academy (Detroit, Mich.)
• $1,000 – Horizon High School (Hamtramck, Mich.)
• $1,000 – Parkway Christian School (Sterling Heights, Mich.)
• $1,000 – Romeo High School (Washington, Mich.)

WEST MICHIGAN

• $2,500 – Grand River Preparatory High School (Kentwood, Mich.)
• $1,000 – Fremont High School (Fremont, Mich.)
• $1,000 – Hastings High School (Hastings, Mich.)