texas college bridge essay

Texas College Bridge

Writing Assignment

Write a multi-paragraph narrative essay about  The Moment that Changed Everything . Your narrative essay should clearly explain: your moment and how you changed as a result of it. The first paragraph will introduce the topic by grabbing the reader’s attention in an interesting way. Remember that your goal is to  show  your moment with vivid details rather than just  telling  the reader what happened. This means the first paragraph could set the scene for your moment, or it could introduce the ideas behind the change you experienced. There are several ways to introduce a personal narrative. Remember, the end result is an exploration of an important moment and its effects on you. The first paragraph then becomes a tool to open the story and hook your reader.

You will need a thesis statement for your narrative. The thesis should clearly state what you have learned or how you have changed as a result of your moment, which is the focus of your narrative. Because this will be an  implied  thesis statement, it will not be included in the final essay. It is important, however, that you write it down now to ensure this central thought guides your narrative writing throughout the process.

The two body paragraphs that follow the introduction need to include main points that develop your moment and response to it. Make sure each paragraph advances the story you are telling, or rather showing. Each paragraph should have a topic sentence that introduces your ideas for that paragraph and offers details to support/prove this point. Each of your paragraphs should offer a separate point and be independent of each other but work together coherently.

As you wrap up your narrative with a concluding paragraph, you should include a sentence at the end of your last paragraph that gives a final, interesting thought on your topic.

The grading rubric below will help you further develop your paper. ** If required, your instructor will provide you with the specific style guide formatting for your essay ( eg. MLA, APA, etc.).

Your narrative essay will be graded using five separate categories: Narrative Element, Implied Thesis Statement, Supporting Ideas, Paragraph Development, and Grammar & Punctuation. Each of these five items will be rated as Proficient, Developing, or Needs Improvement.

Proficient means that you have met the standards of an effective response. Developing means you have partially met the standards of a response, but it needs some revision. Needs Improvement means you did not meet the standards of a response.

You must earn a grade of C or better on this essay, combined with a score of 90 on both Stages in your EdReady study path, to be eligible for an exemption from developmental education courses in accordance with Texas Education Code §51.338(e)(f) for freshman-level reading/writing courses at Texas Institutions of Higher Education that partnered with the school district or an Institution of Higher Education that signed the Texas College Bridge memorandum of understanding.

NARRATIVE ESSAY

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Writing Assignment

Write a multi-paragraph essay about A Person Who Inspired You . How have you been inspired to think or behave in a certain way by a book character, movie character, musician, friend, or family member? What attributes convinced you this person was worth admiring and why?

Your essay should clearly explain why this person inspires you to think or behave in different ways.

The first paragraph will introduce the topic by grabbing the reader’s attention in an interesting way. Remember to explain why the topic is important. In other words, why should readers be interested in people who are inspiring? Remember to emotionally engage your reader with vivid language rather than just dictating to the reader in a mechanical way. Your first paragraph is a tool to open the essay and hook your reader. You will need a thesis/claim statement in your introduction as well. This sentence should clearly indicate the person who inspires you and why .

The two body paragraphs that follow the introduction need to include the two “why” points listed in your thesis/claim statement. Make sure each paragraph convinces the reader that this person is worthy of your admiration. You could focus on the person’s character, accomplishments, personality, etc. You may choose to write about how you relate to the person. Remember to be clear why these attributes bring you inspiration to think or behave in a certain way. Also, remember that graders of your essay come from different backgrounds, so you will need to be careful to explain details that the average person may not be familiar with. Further, think critically about your reader and your points. This means you may need to consider a skeptical reader who could possibly disagree with you in some instances. Don’t forget that each paragraph should have a topic sentence that introduces the main point for that paragraph. Finally, each of your paragraphs should offer a separate point and be independent of each other but work together coherently.

As you wrap up your essay with a concluding paragraph , you should include a sentence at the end of your last paragraph that gives a final, interesting thought on your topic.

Your essay will be graded using four separate categories: Purpose and Focus, Organization and Structure, Development and Support, and Mechanical Conventions. Each of these four items will be rated as Proficient, Developing, or Needs Improvement.

Proficient means that you have met the standards of an effective response. Developing means you have partially met the standards of a response, but it needs some revision. Needs Improvement means you did not meet the standards of a response.

You must earn a grade of C or better on this essay, combined with a score of 90 on both Stages in your EdReady study path, to be eligible for an exemption from developmental education courses in accordance with Texas Education Code §51.338(e)(f) for freshman-level reading/writing courses at Texas Institutions of Higher Education that partnered with the school district or an Institution of Higher Education that signed the Texas College Bridge memorandum of understanding.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Will students meet in person during the texas college bridge summer academy.

Students will not meet in person. They will complete all assignments on-line through the EdReady platform. The Texas College Bridge Summer Academy is a virtual experience designed to guide students on a personalized college readiness path and Texas Success

Where do students log in?

Texas College Bridge users* will all log in through the GreenLight portal:  https://greenlightlocker.com/login

Additional details can be found in this help center article:  Student and Teacher Account Creation

What is the EdReady platform used in Texas College Bridge?

EdReady is a college readiness system to help students avoid the time and cost of remedial courses in colleges. EdReady platform helps students:

• Determine their readiness to take college-level courses.
• ​Follow a personalized study path to master specific concepts in math.
• Help manage and achieve academic and employment goals.

EdReady is based around the concept of “goals” - what students want to achieve. Within those goals, students take an assessment or two to understand where they stand in relation to their goal and then pursue a personalized study path based on their diagnostic results – enabling students to study and develop the necessary skills and knowledge to achieve their goals.

EdReady is pre-loaded with study resources to help students learn the concepts on their study paths: students can view the material for any Topic by clicking the corresponding  Learn  button. 

EdReady is not a Learning Management System but is a personalized college readiness platform.

What are the Texas College Bridge Completion Requirements?

In order to earn the certificate of completion, students must earn:

Texas College Bridge English

• TX English Bridge - Stage 1: score of at least 90     and
• TX English Bridge - Stage 2: score of at least 90     and
• Essay Grade = Pass

Texas College Bridge Math

• TX Math Bridge - Stage 1: score of at least 90     and
• TX Math Bridge - Stage 2: score of at least 90

How is scoring calculated in EdReady?

EdReady scores on a sliding scale from 0 to 100. You can think of that score as a percentage of the learning objectives that your student has mastered. As they work through their learning path, the students EdReady score will increase or decrease based on their test results. 

How do students submit writing?

The only writing exercise required as part of the Texas College Bridge program is a single Essay assignment. The assignment itself will be completed outside of the EdReady platform: GPISD teachers will need determine how students will complete and submit their work (with guidance from their school and/or district). 

The assignment itself is never uploaded or submitted to EdRead. The instructor does need to ensure that the student grade ("Pass" or "Fail") is input into EdReady upon completion of the assignment.

My student reached their target score, can they still do work?

Yes! After reaching their target score students can continue to work within  EdReady to reach a score of 100. After reaching their target score and a score of 100, they will always be able to go back and view the resources they have covered.

How quickly are certificates available in Greenlight?

The student data is pulled from EdReady immediately whenever a student logs into Greenlight, so the student should see their certificate immediately if they have met the course requirements.

If a student has recently met their course requirements, they may need to log into Greenlight again or refresh their browser to see the certificate in their Greenlight Locker.

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“The Texas Bridge Program was an experience, glad I can say I’ve earned my math certificate, not just that but at my own pace. I would definitely recommend the program to my peers.” – Zara Class of 2021

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Texas College Bridge Overview

Texas College Bridge is an online college preparatory course intended to help prepare students for college success.

For students who have not yet met the college and career standard score on the SAT, ACT, or TSIA2, Texas College Bridge provides support in obtaining the college readiness standard. Students that successfully complete Texas College Bridge will be granted a certificate indicating they have successfully met college ready standards for a specific subject area (English or Math), which can be utilized at 78 post-secondary schools.

The Texas English Bridge online course is embedded into the coursework for qualifying students enrolled in English IV. The Texas Math Bridge is embedded into the coursework for students enrolled in College Prep Math.   

For a complete list of universities, community colleges, and technical schools that accept Texas College Bridge as a TSIA2 exemption,  click here .

Criteria for TSIA2 Exemption

Texas College Bridge - English

Students who complete both stage 1 (score of 90 or higher) and stage 2 (score of 90 or higher) and pass the essay assignment will be allowed to enroll in college-level reading/writing met courses with the goal of earning a C or better to satisfy the TSIA2 criteria and continue taking college courses.

Texas College Bridge - Math

Students who complete both stage 1 (score of 90 or higher) and stage 2 (score of 90 or higher) will be allowed to enroll in freshman-level math courses with the goal of earning a C or better to satisfy the TSIA2 criteria and continue taking college courses. 

Obtaining Your Texas College Bridge Certificate of Completion

It is the responsibility of the students to follow the instructions they receive from Texas College Bridge to submit their certificates to colleges. CTHS does not have access to certificates to provide to students or colleges.

Certificates of Completion: How to Access and Share

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Edready® for institutions, talk to an expert, < all news & events, new data show that students who complete the texas college bridge program are succeeding in college, february 2023 — cicero social impact published student efficacy data that indicate that texas college bridge (tcb), a college readiness program established in 2020, is effectively preparing academically at-risk high school students to succeed in entry-level math and english coursework and persist in their studies., about texas college bridge.

With the support of the Texas Education Agency (TEA), two nonprofit organizations— The Commit Partnership (Commit), dedicated to improving Texans’ access to living wage jobs, and The NROC Project (NROC), makers of EdReady, an adaptive learning platform—launched Texas College Bridge .

The program, which has been adopted by more than 400 independent school districts and 90 institutions of higher education and has awarded nearly 78,000 certificates of completion, was designed to ensure that students who were identified as underprepared for postsecondary education—based on GPA, standardized test score(s), or another conventional measure—were provided the opportunity to address their math and English gaps and matriculate to a participating college.

Prior to the introduction of Texas College Bridge, underprepared Texas students who wished to pursue higher education had few opportunities to improve their subject mastery, relegating them to remedial or developmental studies, non-credit coursework that lengthens the time it takes to earn a postsecondary credential while increasing the cost of college.

Alternatively, the Texas College Bridge program, free to high school juniors and seniors in participating districts, was built on the premise that all students are postsecondary material . The intervention is not a standardized test; it’s a digital, personalized learning experience that empowers students to improve their college readiness.

What the Data Show

Cicero Social Impact reviewed representative samples of student data from seven community and technical colleges and four universities from both urban and rural geographic areas. The study posed two primary research questions:

• What percent chance do students have of earning at least a C in first-semester, credit-bearing college courses, and
• What is the first-to-second semester student persistence rate?

The data for this initial study were limited; nonetheless, the analysis, which compared Texas College Bridge students to students who did not participate in the program, revealed the following preliminary findings:

1. Texas College Bridge students (who were initially deemed underprepared for college) and their peers (who were deemed sufficiently prepared) pass their first-semester math courses (College Algebra, Math or Calculus for Business, and Statistics) at equivalent rates.

2. Texas College Bridge students and their peers also pass their first-semester liberal arts courses (Composition I, US History I, Introduction to Philosophy, Introduction to Speech Communication, Federal Government, and Texas Government) at equivalent rates.

3. Texas College Bridge students persist and enroll in the second semester at the same rate as their peers.

In addition to the primary takeaways, researchers found directional evidence that Black Texas College Bridge students have higher persistence rates than students of other races.

“The NROC Project is committed to improving educational equity, and Cicero’s determinations, while preliminary, underscore that we are achieving that aim. The Texas College Bridge program, powered by EdReady, closes the readiness gap between at-risk and academically prepared high school students and proves that students who may not perform well on high-stakes standardized tests can be just as successful as their peers who do,” said Dr. Ahrash Bissell, President of NROC.

Research Methodology

Cicero Social Impact used logistic regression to model binary response variables for semester course grades and second-semester enrollment. A spectrum of considerations informed the research model, including first-generation student status, socioeconomic factors, institution types (2-year versus 4-year institutions), ethnicity, race, Texas Success Initiative Assessment exemption achieved through a standardized test (SAT and ACT), first-semester credit load, reporting semester and year, and withdrawal course grades. 

The Future of the Program

Hundreds of additional districts and new higher education partners are expected to adopt Texas College Bridge in 2023, and, at present, more than 55,000 students are actively participating in the program.

This report and future Cicero Social Impact research and other analyses are informing program improvements, ensuring that students across the state of Texas will not only be able to enroll in college, but persist, enjoy expanding credential and degree options, and succeed.

Additional Research and a Commitment to Continuous Improvement

While these preliminary data suggest that Texas College Bridge helps students shore up essential math and English skills and perform as well in their gateway courses and persist at rates similar to non-Texas College Bridge students, The NROC Project is committed to broadening and deepening the scope of our efficacy research via continued third-party analyses, interviews with Texas College Bridge participants, a Summer convening of Texas College Bridge institutional partners, and more. Additional insights will inform technological, curricular, and implementation improvements.

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Truck Driver Is Killed in Episode at TSMC’s Arizona Semiconductor Plant

Construction at the facility was not affected. The Biden administration awarded the company a $6.6 billion grant last month to expand in the United States.

By Meaghan Tobin

Reporting from Taipei, Taiwan

The driver of a waste disposal truck died on Wednesday, the police said, from injuries he received at the Phoenix campus of the chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. The site is under construction.

The truck driver, identified by the Phoenix Police Department as Cesar Anguiano-Guitron, 41, was a contractor. No TSMC employees or construction workers were injured, according to an earlier statement from the company.

According to the Phoenix police, Mr. Anguiano-Guitron had been transporting waste material away from the construction site in his tractor-trailer when the episode occurred. As he inspected some equipment, the police said, pressure was suddenly released, and Mr. Anguiano-Guitron was struck by a blunt object and thrown over 20 feet from the trailer.

TSMC, which makes a majority of the world’s advanced semiconductors, has been building its campus in Arizona since 2021. Last month, the Biden administration awarded the company a $6.6 billion grant under the CHIPS and Science Act in a bid to bring cutting-edge chip making to the United States.

TSMC has long dominated the global chip supply chain from its home base in Taiwan. Driven by a chip shortage and China’s increasingly hostile stance toward Taiwan, which Beijing claims is part of its territory, world leaders have spent billions to entice the company to expand to their shores. Over the past four years, TSMC has committed to build new factories in Japan , Germany and Arizona.

The company said its site on the northern outskirts of Phoenix would eventually house three factories. But work has been repeatedly delayed as construction unions in Arizona have raised safety concerns and objected to TSMC’s bringing workers from Taiwan to help install sophisticated equipment. The first factory is now expected to begin producing chips in 2025, and a second in 2028. Federal officials have said they expect that TSMC’s planned site in Arizona will create 6,000 chip manufacturing jobs and more than 20,000 construction jobs.

Semiconductor manufacturing is complex and involves specialized chemicals and materials. Mr. Anguiano-Guitron was driving a tank truck containing sulfuric acid, TSMC said in a statement to the news media in Taiwan.

Arizona has become a top destination for chip-related spending. More than $100 billion in new semiconductor investments have been announced since the CHIPS Act was introduced, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association .

After TSMC unveiled its plans to build a U.S. hub in 2020 , several Taiwanese companies that supply it with chemicals said they would follow suit. Some even bought land. But they have held back while progress on the plant slowed.

Amy Chang Chien contributed research.

Meaghan Tobin is a technology correspondent for The Times based in Taipei, covering business and tech stories in Asia with a focus on China. More about Meaghan Tobin

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T Tyler Houston Engineering Center Advances to National Student Steel Bridge Contest

May 20, 2024 | Hannah Buchanan

Students at The University of Texas at Tyler Houston Engineering Center have advanced to the 2024 American Institute of Steel Construction’s Student Steel Bridge Competition National Finals May 31 – June 1 in Louisiana.

UT Tyler HEC qualified to compete by placing among the top four teams at this year’s steel bridge competition at the American Society of Civil Engineers Region 6 Symposium with their entry, “UT Tyler – HEC.” The UT Tyler HEC team earned first in cost estimation, second in lightness, and third in aesthetics and construction speed.

They outperformed teams from LeTourneau University, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, UT Austin and Texas A&M University, among others. At the annual contest, collegiate teams build steel bridges under a time limit and are judged in various categories.

“The students are excited to be going back to nationals for the second time in four years. Their teamwork and dedication are very impressive,” said Shariful Huq, UT Tyler HEC professor of practice and team faculty adviser. “The team is very grateful for the support and sponsorship of the College of Engineering, civil engineering department, industry partners and professional organizations."

More than 200 schools across North America competed at the regional level this year, with the top 40-45 teams advancing to the SSBC national finals. Outstanding overall performance in regional competitions, and only participation in those competitions, qualifies eligible teams for the national finals, which is organized by AISC in collaboration with ASCE.

UT Tyler HEC steel bridge team members are Mazin Mukdadi, captain; Antonino Duenas, cocaptain; and Jose Herrera, Alexander Carranza, Abel Perez, Antonio Melchor, Jennifer Valle Camacho, Clare Roewe, Cristian Peralez, Jacquelyn Cazares, Jason Salgado, Oswald Andrade and Guillermo Oliver, all of Houston.

As the largest ASCE student symposium worldwide, Region 6 consists of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Mexico and includes schools such as UT Austin, Texas A&M University, University of Oklahoma, New Mexico State University, Tech de Monterrey and Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos.

The steel bridge competition first began in 1987, with three teams and has grown every year since. For more information, visit https://nationalfinals.studentsteelbridge.org/about.

With a mission to improve educational and health care outcomes for East Texas and beyond, UT Tyler offers more than 90 undergraduate and graduate programs to nearly 10,000 students. Through its alignment with UT Tyler Health Science Center and UT Health East Texas, UT Tyler has unified these entities to serve Texas with quality education, cutting-edge research and excellent patient care. Classified by Carnegie as a doctoral research institution and by U.S. News & World Report as a national university, UT Tyler has campuses in Tyler, Longview, Palestine and Houston.

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Their financial aid was in limbo. What did these students decide about college?

• By Liz Willen, Gail Cornwall, Matt Krupnick, Kavitha Cardoza, Ariel Gilreath The Hechinger Report

May 22, 2024 | San Francisco; Chicago; Baltimore; and Greenville, S.C.

For many high school seniors and others hoping to attend college next year, the last few months have become a stress-filled struggle to complete the trouble-prone, much-maligned FAFSA , or Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

The rollout of this updated and supposedly simplified form was so delayed, error-ridden, and confusing that it has derailed or severely complicated college decisions for millions of students throughout the United States, especially those from low-income, first-generation, and unauthorized immigrant families. 

The bureaucratic mess is also holding up decisions by private scholarship programs and adding to public skepticism about the value of higher education – threatening progress in efforts to get more Americans to and through college. 

Why We Wrote This

Problems with a federal financial aid application have impacted college decisions. Faced with uncertainty around costs, how are members of the class of 2024 deciding what to do next?

To see the impact in person, The Hechinger Report sent reporters to schools in four cities – San Francisco, Chicago, Baltimore, and Greenville, South Carolina – to hear students’ stories. Because we found them through schools, most of those we interviewed had counselors helping them. For the millions of students who don’t, it’s an even more daunting task. 

“It was stressing me every day,” said one San Francisco senior who was accepted to 16 colleges but could not attend without substantial financial aid. Some became so frustrated they gave up, at least for now. Others said they will turn to trade schools or the military. 

Students whose parents are unauthorized immigrants had special worries, including concern that naming their parents would bring immigration penalties (although the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act forbids FAFSA officials from sharing family information).

To give students more time to weigh options, more than 200 colleges and universities pushed back their traditional May 1 commitment deadlines, some until June 1, according to the American Council on Education, which keeps an updated list . 

Despite heroic efforts by counselors and a slew of public FAFSA-signing events, just 40.2%  of high school seniors had completed the FAFSA as of May 10, in contrast to 49.6% of last year’s seniors at the same time, according to the National College Attainment Network. The numbers do not bode well for college enrollment, nor for the many high school graduates who will not get the benefits of higher education.  

National College Attainment Network

San Francisco: “College is my first choice” 

No one in Damiana Beltran’s family went to college, so she didn’t picture it in her future. But at the end of her junior year, “everybody” at Mission High School in San Francisco started talking about applying, so she did. San José State University admitted her, along with a few other schools. Excited, Beltran entertained visions of becoming a psychologist and showing her younger brother that “you don’t have to be from the wealthiest family” to go to college. 

But the online FAFSA form wouldn’t let Beltran, who is a U.S. citizen, submit her application because her mother, who isn’t, doesn’t have a Social Security number. They tried using her individual taxpayer identification number but got an error message. Leaving the field blank didn’t work either. Beltran’s mother skipped work to get help at the school’s Future Center, but still, no dice. Eventually, they mailed in a paper version.

When May 1 passed with no offer of aid — or even an indication that her FAFSA had been received — Beltran decided to give up on attending the schools that would require her to pay for housing and a meal plan. If she went to nearby San Francisco State University, living at home would mean not asking her mother to take on debt. “I want to go to San José, but I don’t want to do that to her,” a teary Beltran said in April. “I think about it a lot during classes. During the whole school day, it’s in the back of my head.” She’s had trouble sleeping.

Her classmate Josue Hernandez also lost sleep over the FAFSA. It took him about a month and two submission attempts to upload his undocumented parents’ IDs to verify their identity, he said. Once he did, it took about three weeks to process. The senior, who had been accepted into 16 schools, thought, “It was 12 years of hard work, and I finally got in, but I might not even be able to go.” 

Hernandez’s other hope was scholarships. He cut back his hours at an after-school job to work on the applications and then stayed up late to do the homework he’d pushed aside. Most of his free periods, including lunches, went to figuring out how to pay for college. “It was stressing me every day,” Hernandez said. 

Finally, the University of California, Berkeley, told him that his FAFSA had gone through, and financial aid would pay for almost everything; the SEED Scholars Honors Program would likely take care of the rest. “It’s finally over,” he said. 

That’s not quite how Alessandro Mejia’s story went. As a senior in the challenging Game Design Academy at Balboa High School, he has the coding skills to major in computer science at one of the four-year colleges he got into. “College is my first choice,” Mejia said, but making it work financially “would just be much harder on our family.” He was eyeing trade school, saying “being an electrician or a car mechanic doesn’t seem too bad.” Of abandoning a tech career, he said, “I’m a little frustrated, but I feel like I developed a good work ethic in school so … it’s not completely a waste.”

School counselor Katherine Valle listened to Mejia and shook her head. The Game Design Academy, she said, “is our hardest pathway, and we don’t have a lot of Latino males in it. To know he did that and is going to end up being a mechanic is just …” She couldn’t find words. 

But with less than a week to spare, Mejia learned his FAFSA had finally been processed, and he committed to San Francisco State. For Beltran, though, as the May 15 deadline passed, she was “still waiting for my FAFSA to come in,” and hadn’t submitted an intent to register.

Chicago: “It really put me on edge”

Samaya Acker stayed on top of her college plans all year. She applied for early action admission at 17 colleges, submitted her FAFSA application two days after the window opened, and came up with a backup plan to join the military, just in case.

Acker, a senior at Air Force Academy High School on Chicago’s South Side who has “Power” tattooed in script on her arm, was accepted by 16 colleges (her top choice, the University of Chicago, was the only one to turn her down) and planned to spend a few months in the Air National Guard to help pay for college. But as scholarship and deposit deadlines approached, her FAFSA application was still classified as “pending” three months after she submitted it.

“It really put me on edge,” said Acker, whose high school years were interrupted first by Covid and then by the birth of her son halfway through her sophomore year, but who still is graduating with a weighted grade-point average over 4.0.

Just before the college commitment deadlines, Acker was awarded a Gates Scholarship, which pays the full cost of college for high-achieving students from underrepresented groups. Acker, who is Black, accepted her offer of admission from Chicago’s Loyola University, where tuition alone is more than $52,000 per year . She plans to become an anesthesiologist. (The Gates Foundation is among the many funders of The Hechinger Report.)

A few miles away, a group of students at Hubbard High School in southwest Chicago were not as fortunate. 

The FAFSA delays created unique challenges for students with unauthorized immigrant parents , including many at Hubbard. Four seniors whose parents are unauthorized immigrants said they had spent months waiting for the federal government to fix a glitch that prevented parents without Social Security numbers from submitting financial information. 

The glitch was finally fixed, but all four were still waiting, in early May, to find out how much financial aid they might receive. 

“There’s really not much I can do,” said Javier Magana, who was still trying to figure out whether he could afford any of the colleges that had accepted him. “It’s definitely been frustrating because I’ve been trying my best.”

Ixchel Ortiz, plans to go to a Chicago community college, but said that if she didn’t receive financial aid, even that would have to wait.

Isaac Raygoza and Octavio Rodriguez said they had a few four-year college options but likely wouldn’t be able to pursue any of them without a FAFSA answer.

Rodriguez said he had been repeatedly frustrated by the FAFSA. “I would go home and wait 20 to 30 minutes on hold, and we didn’t get anywhere,” he said. In late April he was notified that he had misspelled his own name on the application; in mid-May, he was still waiting to hear whether he needed to re-apply from scratch.

“I’m slightly stressed,” he said.

Raygoza said he had submitted his application on time but had failed to notice an error message that prevented it from being processed. He resubmitted it in late April.

“I was just shocked it was never processed,” he said. “I had to do it all again.”

All four said they would likely take a year off to work if they didn’t get aid. 

Baltimore: “Money was a big factor”

At the Academy for College and Career Exploration in Baltimore, juniors and seniors have weekly class, run by the nonprofit organization iMentor, to help them understand and pursue postsecondary options, including colleges and various types of financial aid. Counselor LaToia Lyle worries about the long delays with FAFSA, because most of her students are low-income and will be first-generation college students, so they don’t always have someone to help them at home, and the delays could mean decisions had to be made quickly.  

She helps them compare tuition costs and reminds them that housing deposits are not refundable and book fees add up. “Even gaps as small as $500 can make a difference,” she said.

For Zion Wilson and Camryn Carter, both seniors, the delays and the need to constantly try to log into FAFSA accounts that froze were frustrating, but both students said they were relieved when glitches with the forms meant their college admission deadlines got pushed back. 

“The last thing I wanted to do was make a fast-paced decision,” said Wilson. “I kept bouncing between different things. I felt the FAFSA delay gave me more of a chance to decide what I actually wanted to do.” 

She had applied for computer science programs at several colleges but was nervous about taking out loans. Even though Baltimore City Community College would be tuition-free for her, she worried she wouldn’t have enough money to spend if she wasn’t working. But her family wanted her to go to college, especially because her elder sister had enrolled but dropped out after the first year. 

Wilson was admitted to her top three choices — BCCC, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and Coppin State University — but even with scholarships, she decided not to go. Instead, Wilson plans to go straight into the workforce through a program called Grads2Careers, where she will get training in information technology.

“It kind of sounded like I can just do the exact same thing that I would be doing if I went to college, but I can just start now versus waiting two years to start,” Wilson said. After a two-week training period, she will be paid between $15 and $17 an hour, she said. 

In the end, she filled out her portion of the FAFSA, but told her parents not to do theirs. “Why make my parents do this long thing and put in their tax information, if I’m not going anywhere that requires it?” 

Wilson is relieved not to have to think about college anymore. “I think I made the right choice, and having some money in my pocket will also be a good push for me to continue to advance up.”

Her classmate Carter is a serious student who is also on the baseball, wrestling, and track teams. He has never wavered from his childhood decision to study biology. It began, he said, when he was about four years old, and his grandmother tuned to the National Geographic channel on TV.

“I was like, ‘stop, stop, stop,’ ” he said, recalling the video of a lion attacking a zebra. Carter was hooked. He started watching the channel every day. “I fell in love with ants, ecosystems, that just sparked my interest in biology.” 

Carter applied to 14 colleges. He said filling out all the forms was challenging because the delayed release of the FAFSA meant he was doing it at the same time as he was taking a demanding course load, including AP Literature and AP Calculus. “It was really time-consuming and really work-heavy with a lot of essays, a lot of homework,” he said. “It’s pretty tough to do that at the same time while I’m doing college supplemental essays and my personal statement.”  

But the FAFSA delay also meant that his mother had more time to finish the form, something she had been putting off for months. Because he is the oldest of four children, his mom hadn’t had to complete a form like this before that asks for a lot of personal information, including tax data, he said. 

“My mom was just brushing over it,” he said. “But I was like, ‘No, you really have to do this because this is for my future. Like, you don’t do this, I’ll have so much debt.’ So I was just telling her to please do this and please get on it.” 

She did, but Carter said it likely wouldn’t have happened without the delay. 

Carter got into his dream school, the University of Maryland, College Park, with a full scholarship, including tuition, meals, and accommodation. His second choice, McDaniel College, also offered him a generous scholarship, but he says he still would have ended up paying $6,000 a year, which he didn’t want to do. “Definitely money was a big factor,” he said. He said he’s excited about starting a new chapter in September: “I feel like UMD is the perfect fit for me.” 

Greenville: “We’re just playing the waiting game”

Chylicia and Chy’Kyla Henderson worked hard to graduate early from Eastside High School in Greenville, South Carolina. The sisters filled their schedules and took virtual classes as well, so that Chylicia could be done with school a semester early and Chy’Kyla could graduate after her junior year. Both want to attend college but need financial aid to afford it. 

Their mom, Nichole Henderson, said the stress of trying to fill out both their FAFSA forms led her to take her daughters and two other graduating seniors she knew to a FAFSA workshop at a local college in April. Even with help from someone there, she found the forms confusing – Chylicia’s asked for Nichole’s tax information, she said, but Chy’Kyla’s did not. 

“As a parent, it’s stressful,” Nichole said.  

Chylicia is thinking about pursuing a degree in nursing or social work, and leaning toward starting at Greenville Technical College, a community college. But the school emailed her saying they needed more information on her financial aid application; but it wasn’t clear if the issue stemmed from the FAFSA form or something else, she said. 

Then, on May 8, she got an email from South Carolina Tuition Grants, a program that provides up to $4,800 in need-based scholarships, saying she was tentatively approved for the full amount. She still hasn’t resolved the paperwork at Greenville Technical College, though, and so isn’t sure yet whether she can enroll there. 

And if Chylicia’s application is missing information, the family worries that Chy’Kyla’s will have the same issue. Like her sister, she’s considering starting at a community college, but by May 8, she hadn’t received word about financial aid from any schools or from any need-based scholarship programs.

“We’re just playing the waiting game,” their mother said. 

At J.L. Mann High School, also in Greenville County, students normally start filling out FAFSA forms with their parents sometime in the fall, but this year, they couldn’t access the form until January. 

The delay created some challenging decisions for students like Braden Freeman, who is the student body president at J.L. Mann. He submitted his FAFSA in January, right after it opened. In March, he was told he got a full scholarship to attend Southern Methodist University in Texas – but by May 1, he still hadn’t heard back from his other top choices, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Virginia, on how much aid he would get. Those colleges had pushed back their decision deadlines because of the FAFSA delays.

Instead of waiting to hear back from UNC and UVA, Freeman decided to put a deposit down at Southern Methodist, whose deadline was May 1. The full scholarship from SMU was a big factor in his decision.  

Both the UNC and UVA eventually sent Freeman his financial aid packages a week before their deadline to enroll, which was May 15. Freeman said he still planned to attend Southern Methodist.

This story about FAFSA applications was produced by The Hechinger Report , a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Try the Offer Letter Decoder .

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