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<p>We use restricted data from the National Center for Education Statistics’ High School Longitudinal Survey of 2009 to test two key elements of administrative burden theory in the context of the notoriously burdensome Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA); first, that burdens are distributive, affecting some groups more than others, and second, that administrative capacity is inversely related to administrative burden (Herd and Moynihan in Administrative burden: policymaking by other means, Russell Sage Foundation, 2019). Our analyses add to prior research by examining not only student and family characteristics related to FAFSA non-completion, but also the reasons they cite as barriers to completion and, specifically, types of administrative burdens. Overall, we find support for our hypothesis that students who are more socioeconomically disadvantaged are less likely to complete applications than their higher-income peers and are more likely to report administrative burdens as a reason for not applying. Additionally and somewhat surprisingly, we find that learning costs tend to be more salient among FAFSA non-completers than compliance costs. Because students from the lowest-income households attend schools with the highest counselor caseloads, providing additional counselor resources in these schools may provide one path to reducing FAFSA completion gaps.</p>

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Can Administrative Capacity Moderate the Distributional Effects of Administrative Burden? The Case of FAFSA Completion

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月20日

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  • Virginia Carr Schneider,
  • Ross Rubenstein

摘要

We use restricted data from the National Center for Education Statistics’ High School Longitudinal Survey of 2009 to test two key elements of administrative burden theory in the context of the notoriously burdensome Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA); first, that burdens are distributive, affecting some groups more than others, and second, that administrative capacity is inversely related to administrative burden (Herd and Moynihan in Administrative burden: policymaking by other means, Russell Sage Foundation, 2019). Our analyses add to prior research by examining not only student and family characteristics related to FAFSA non-completion, but also the reasons they cite as barriers to completion and, specifically, types of administrative burdens. Overall, we find support for our hypothesis that students who are more socioeconomically disadvantaged are less likely to complete applications than their higher-income peers and are more likely to report administrative burdens as a reason for not applying. Additionally and somewhat surprisingly, we find that learning costs tend to be more salient among FAFSA non-completers than compliance costs. Because students from the lowest-income households attend schools with the highest counselor caseloads, providing additional counselor resources in these schools may provide one path to reducing FAFSA completion gaps.