No more FAFSA mandate: Kansas cuts new high school graduation requirement
Kansas education officials nixed a controversial high school graduation requirement less than a year after enacting it.
The Kansas State Board of Education on Tuesday voted 8-2 to repeal the new requirement that high school students completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.
The FAFSA requirement was added in May 2024 as part of a slate of changes to high school graduation requirements. Those changes were the culmination of years of work to update the minimum graduation requirements for the first time in two decades.
But the FAFSA requirement caused consternation among some board members as well as lawmakers on an oversight committee, and the board decided in July to backtrack. Due to the slow speed of the regulatory process, it took until now to formally repeal it.
R. Scott Gordon, general counsel for the Kansas State Department of Education, said public comment during the regulatory process was universally opposed to the FAFSA requirement.
"It was attached to graduation, to a diploma, and that was not OK for me," said board chair Cathy Hopkins, R-Hays. "Should schools be putting it out there? Absolutely, 100%. Everybody needs to know what's available to them. ... I just don't think it should be a requirement to graduate."
Board member Jim Porter, R-Fredonia, was one of the two no votes. He said he had concerns about the FAFSA requirement but had supported it because there were safeguards.
"The fact is we have people that believe that we are emphasizing non-college over college, and it's not a zero-sum game," Porter said. "I believe that we're emphasizing both, and I think that removing the FAFSA sort of plays into that scenario. I believe there will be many first-generation students that won't know what their options that would probably have more options had they gone through that process."
The graduation requirement had mandated that every student fill out a FAFSA, starting with this academic year's freshman class, unless their parent opted them out or their superintendent exempts them. Educators said the intent was to get students to take advantage of federal financial aid that they may not have known they qualified for had they not applied.
Opponents of the idea had suggested that parents shouldn't have to submit information to the federal government, that schools shouldn't have data on whether students completed a FAFSA, that it places a burden on students and families and that it's not an appropriate thing to have as a graduation requirement.
State education officials have said they will look to accomplish the goal in a different way, such as through the accreditation process.
Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas repeals new FAFSA requirement for high school graduation
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