In Florida the high school graduating class of 2022 left over $313 million in unclaimed Pell Grant dollars on the table according to a new analysis from the National College Attainment Network.
Nationally, the class of 2022 left nearly $3.6 billion in unclaimed Pell Grants on the table.
The report estimated the amount of unclaimed Pell Grant by looking at Free Application for Financial Student Aid completion rates for each state, and measured it against the total number of Pell-eligible students who did apply and the average Pell Grant for each state.
Using FAFSA completion rates and Pell Grant eligibility estimates, the report found that about 767,000 Pell-eligible high school seniors didn’t complete the application and thus didn’t receive the grant.
Nationally, the average Pell Grant award was $4,686 for the 2022–23 academic year; the maximum award was $6,895.
Florida was one of five states in the country where the non-completion rate was over 50%, the report said. More than 1.65 million high school graduates—about 41 percent of the Class of 2022—didn’t complete the FAFSA.