L.A. County outpaced the state in Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and California Dream Act Application (CADAA) submissions and completions, setting a high of 68 percent for completions – 8 percent more than last year! To acknowledge this impressive feat, the L.A. Compact Higher Education team co-hosted a celebration in May, engaging multiple school districts and community members to join in honoring students' hard work in 2023.

The L.A. Compact and LACOE, an L.A. Compact signer, worked with the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools (PLAS) and Ed Trust-West to coordinate the celebration. Over the past year, LACOE and L.A. Unified successfully mobilized districts and school leaders to expand student and family awareness and support form completion. At L.A. Unified School District, 80 percent of students completed FAFSA/CADAA in the 2022-23 school year.

At the event, representatives from L.A. Unified, Compton Unified, Centinela Valley Union HS District, Montebello Unified, El Rancho Unified and Cal-SOAP LA hosted a conversation about successes and lessons learned, answering questions to set other districts up for continued success. For a list of the county’s leading schools and districts in financial aid form completion, please click here.

For more information, please reach out to Adam Gottlieb, Director of Postsecondary Strategy and Policy, at [email protected] or Matthew Moor, Manager of Postsecondary Initiatives, at [email protected].