Cohort 9’s project Brink: College Bound, College Funded focused on increasing the accessibility of higher education by working to grow the use of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) across Tulsa Public Schools. The cohort felt strongly that an individual’s financial situation should not dictate whether or not they can attend college. Moreover, the cohort’s research showed that FAFSA was an under-utilized resource for Oklahoma students to gain financial aid.

Cohort 9 worked closely with ImpactTulsa to develop the concept for Brink and implement it in the community. At the time, ImpactTulsa was in early stages of developing its Graduate918 programming to promote FAFSA, and the students decided to turbo-charge this effort. Students regularly attended ImpactTulsa board meetings, while ImpactTulsa Community Engagement Director Alex Paschal attended cohort meetings.

In close coordination and partnership with ImpactTulsa, Cohort 9 worked to create a comprehensive system to streamline the FAFSA completion process and foster a culture of FAFSA-mindedness in schools. The cohort created a suite of resources and tools for administrators and teachers to support students in navigating the application process, including instructional videos, powerpoint presentations, announcements, and a calendar of important dates and tasks. The cohort also created guidelines for the formation of a FAFSA steering committee of parents and students who would work to promote FAFSA in their school districts. These steps were complemented by a full-scale awareness campaign with ImpactTulsa’s communication team to raise students’ awareness of FAFSA, including through the wide distribution of fun posters, stickers and t-shirts with the slogan “Get off your FAFSA!”

Alex Paschal reflected on the co-creation process with students: “It was a fun, reciprocal relationship. They’d have big ideas, and then we’d work together to figure out the smaller components...”

“One of the biggest areas of added value was the perspective [the cohort] provided as students. They were a sounding board for what would resonate with other kids - their peers. They had first-hand experience with what resources students had access to and what gaps we needed to fill,” she reflected.

In year three, the students conducted extensive outreach to promote Brink’s message and encourage its adoption in schools and other relevant organizations. These efforts included:

• A Brink Summit in September 2016, bringing together representatives from the US Department of Education and local schools including Memorial and Union High Schools, Rogers State University and the University of Tulsa;

• A informational webinar that was attended by 50 organizations across Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri; and

• Outreach to the US Department of Education, resulting in the Brink project being spotlighted on the Federal Student Aid website.