This handout accompanies the 12th Year Campaign Junior/Senior Student Workbook, which guides students through navigating college admissions and financial aid.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, an estimated 4.2 million youth and young adults experienced homelessness on their own each year. The outbreak and resulting economic crisis have pushed more youth into homelessness, and at the same time, exacerbated the challenges of youth who were homeless prior to the outbreak. Yet higher education remains their best long-term opportunity for economic independence, health, stability, and well-being. Unaccompanied homeless youth face extraordinary challenges filling out the FAFSA.

Olympia—There’s a great new way to pay for college in our state—the Washington College Grant. It gives more money to more people for more kinds of education. Now, the Washington Student Achievement Council has unveiled a new data dashboard to help schools and communities track how many students are applying for financial aid. The FAFSA completion dashboard, available online, includes real-time data on state and district FAFSA completion metrics.