{"id":363096,"date":"2026-06-16T18:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T18:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/363096\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T18:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T18:45:09","slug":"more-san-diego-students-apply-for-financial-aid-after-county-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/363096\/","title":{"rendered":"More San Diego students apply for financial aid\u00a0after county campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Two<\/a>San Marcos Unified school counselors accept their Race 2 Submit award. (Photo courtesy of the San Diego County Office of Education)<\/p>\n

As California seeks to leave fewer financial aid dollars on the table for high school graduates, schools in San Diego County are combining persistence with persuasion to get more students to apply for aid.<\/p>\n

The results, so far, have been promising. The percentage of students in San Diego County who completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, form rose from 49% in 2019 to 65% in 2026, mirroring a statewide trend.<\/p>\n

The effort has played out in different ways. Some educators have enticed students and families with food; others are using data to track students who have not completed FAFSA forms. The San Diego County Office of Education<\/a> also launched in 2023 a campaign called \u201cRace 2 Submit,\u201d in which schools compete for the highest completion rate, with winning campuses receiving cash prizes and congratulatory banners.<\/p>\n

Tanya Bulette, school counseling coordinator at the education office, said the county expanded training and tools to educate families about financial aid after California\u00a0made<\/a>\u00a0completing financial aid forms a graduation requirement in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe campaign unlocked something in our school teams to really understand that we don\u2019t want to put up any kind of barrier for students to go to (college),\u201d Bulette said. \u201cAnd financial aid is the number one reason why our students do not elect to go.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bulette said the county office created a dashboard that pulls completion data from the California Student Aid Commission,<\/a> allowing counselors, teachers and students to monitor financial aid completion and CalGrant award rates at school and district levels. Counselors also use the California College Guidance Initiative portal, a tool launched in 2024 that tracks each student\u2019s FAFSA completion status, to keep students on course with the March 2 deadline to qualify for a CalGrant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those efforts can go a long way toward helping some of the county\u2019s highest-need students. Jessica Ley Nu\u00f1ez, a school counselor, recalled when a recent graduate of Monarch School refused every option for college or trade school she offered him. The student, part of the school\u2019s unhoused population, shook his head and repeated that he \u201cjust needed to work\u201d to make ends meet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Ley N\u00fa\u00f1ez opened up financial aid forms, she said his eyes widened at the full Pell Grant waiting for him. They created a budget together for his tuition, housing and meal plan at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, which left him with an extra $3,500.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a number to hang on to, and that one simple act helped him understand, \u2018I wanted a job to be able to buy a laptop, but you\u2019re telling me if I invest in my future higher education, that\u2019s already there waiting for me,\u2019 \u201d Ley Nu\u00f1ez said. \u201cNow he\u2019s enrolled in community college.\u201d<\/p>\n

At San Marcos Unified School District<\/a>, 82% of 1,600 enrolled seniors completed their financial aid forms this year \u2014 the highest district completion rate in the county \u2014 up from 76% in 2025. Bulette said the district ramped up its persuasion strategies, like teacher and parent nights, a \u201cfree pie to apply\u201d incentive for students and early counseling sessions about state and federal grants for underclassmen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was at the beginning some fear from the staff of not wanting to feel like they were digging into personal finances,\u201d Bulette said. With new training and partnerships, schools have better tailored parent outreach to their communities, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>Monarch School counselor Jessica Ley Nu\u00f1ez accepts a Race 2 Submit award. (Photo courtesy of SDCOE)<\/p>\n

For example, Twin Oaks High School, a continuation school in San Marcos Unified serving at-risk students, increased its financial aid application completion by nearly 60% compared to last year. Lincoln High School, after partnering with the California Student Opportunity and Access Program to expand college counseling, increased its completion rate by 28% compared to last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Palomar High School, which enrolls a large undocumented student population in Sweetwater Union High School District<\/a>, also increased its financial aid form completion rate by nearly 60% compared to last year. The district partnered with Students Without Limits, a nonprofit that helps immigrant families with the California Dream Act Application, the state\u2019s financial aid form for mixed-status households.<\/p>\n

The campaign has also led to a direct jump in financial aid for students. At Carlsbad High School, 91 out of 343 students who completed forms received a CalGrant \u2014 a 43.8% increase compared to last year. Southwest High and Sweetwater High, both schools with historically low completion rates, had 75% and 65% of their seniors receive CalGrants, respectively, this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Helping students \u2018envision their future\u2019<\/p>\n

Monarch School had all seniors complete their financial aid forms. Ley Nu\u00f1ez\u2019s game plan for the Race to Submit competition begins years before a student becomes a senior, she said. She teaches ninth grade students about maintaining a good GPA, taking A-G college course prerequisites and career tracks at universities or trade schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But at a school where many students try to survive on the streets or in shelters, a financial aid form is often not top of mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, Ley Nu\u00f1ez said she first has to make sure that a student\u2019s basic needs are met and connects them to food, housing and social services. If an unhoused student stops coming to school or is part of an off-site independent study program, Ley Nu\u00f1ez drives 45 minutes across the county, sets up a laptop with her phone\u2019s WiFi hotspot, and says, \u201cLet\u2019s get your FAFSA done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes parents are the ones who are getting hard to get a hold of,\u201d Ley Nu\u00f1ez said. She said she leans on the school\u2019s parent and family liaison to help address common obstacles like shelter or access to a computer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Data from Pew Research\u00a0shows<\/a>\u00a0that the four-year window after high school \u2014 when students make decisions about college enrollment and affordability \u2014 largely determines the next few decades of economic mobility.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Beyond the banner and the cash prize, for Ley Nu\u00f1ez, the competition has always been about \u201cmaking sure that all students access the funding they need to be able to follow their dreams after high school,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Marcos Unified school counselors accept their Race 2 Submit award. (Photo courtesy of the San Diego County…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[9378,26561,74,22053,76,75,85,3183,98792,147555],"class_list":["post-363096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-carlsbad","tag-financial-aid","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county-office-of-education","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-san-marcos","tag-students","tag-sweetwater-union-high-school-district","tag-the-monarch-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}