(fafsa.edu.gov)

The home page for the FAFSA website.

Many students at Arizona’s three public universities will pay more for school next year after the Board of Regents approved tuition and fee increases earlier this month. But not a lot of Arizona students are filling out the form to apply for financial aid from the feds.

It’s called the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. The federal government tracks how many students do this and makes that data available. Chad Aldeman with the nonprofit Bellwether Education Partners crunched the numbers.

The state is trying to get more students to complete the FAFSA forms. Deena Lager is Director of State Student Financial Aid for Arizona. She said letting students know about the form is a significant first step.