One fallout of the pandemic is that completion rates for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form in Connecticut is down 16-percent compared to last year.  State Education officials say FASFA is an important step in the path to postsecondary education and associated with higher rates of college enrollment. 

Governor Lamont launched a FASFA Completion Challenge in December to boost completion rates among high school seniors.  Rates have improved by 7-percent since then.  Now, Danbury and 15 other school districts have been asked to join the FAFSA Learning Cohort and compete for prizes through through the Challenge. 

Lamont says the goal is to help those districts in most need overcome the obstacles to completion. In September, Governor Lamont will publicly recognize four school districts who have demonstrated the greatest percentage point growth in high school FAFSA completions, compared to the Class of 2020.