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In Massachusetts, the traditional May 1 deadline to complete the forms and qualify for state financial aid passed with just 221,021 high school seniors and returning undergraduates submitting applications, down by nearly 10 percent from the previous year. The drop-off was sharpest in April, when nearly 12,000 fewer students than last year had finished their Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, as the forms are commonly known.

“However you slice and dice it, it’s a terrible early indicator,” said Carlos Santiago, the Massachusetts commissioner of higher education. “It’s really pretty disturbing.”

Earlier this month, Massachusetts extended its deadline to complete the FAFSA for state aid from May 1 to July 1, in the hopes that it will encourage more students to apply. But even institutions that have seen strong FAFSA completion rates say that this year, it is no guarantee that students will enroll for upcoming classes.

This summer it will be more crucial than ever for college financial aid officers and high school counselors to keep up with students to ensure they are prepared to enroll in the fall, higher education experts said.

Students whose parents have lost their jobs are likely going to feel pressure to save money or go to work instead of enrolling in college, said Robert Dais, Director of Gear Up Massachusetts, a program aimed at helping high school students prepare for college run through the state Department of Higher Education.

Today’s Lowell doesn’t look like the same place where Colleen Winn ’85 grew up. And UMass Lowell isn’t the same university from which she graduated with a B.A. in English.

But Winn sees the bedrock similarities under the surface changes: Lowell is still a city of immigrants who want better lives for their children and UMass Lowell is still the university that helps many of those children succeed, just like it helped her.

Today Winn serves as a bridge between past and present, city and university. As director of the state and federal Gear Up and TRIO programs for Lowell, she helps low-income, first-generation middle and high school students prepare for college. “I’m working with students because my parents fomented not only this love of helping others, but also the idea of education being a cornerstone for opportunities,” she says.

Winn worked in retail and pharmacy management while earning an M.A. in English at Rivier University, with dreams of being a reporter. But she found herself helping the sales clerks who worked for her at Brooks Pharmacy in Lawrence—mostly young Puerto Rican women—apply to college. She thought, “I’m good at this!” and went back to Rivier for a second master’s in education with a concentration in guidance counseling.

A lifelong learner, Winn is now pursuing her doctorate in education, with a focus on the achievement gap. Research shows that the students she serves today face tougher challenges than her generation did, including poverty, trauma, language and cultural barriers, and the high cost of college, she says.

Julie Lun ’18 is one example. Lun’s mother got little schooling after her family fled the killing fields of Cambodia and spent 10 years in a Thai refugee camp. In the United States, she struggled to learn English and find work. Starting at age 12, Lun had to babysit her younger siblings while her parents worked second shift. Still, she persevered in her schoolwork, with support from Winn and the Gear Up counselors at Lowell High School. “Gear Up made me focus on my education, to want to better myself despite my situation at home,” Lun says.

Lun took four classes at Middlesex Community College her senior year of high school and then matriculated at UMass Lowell with a generous financial aid package that included scholarships, work-study jobs and campus housing. She’s on track to graduate next year with a criminal justice degree—and she just might take over Winn’s job one day. “I want to advocate for Gear Up, or maybe work with young people who are at risk of not going to college or finishing high school,” she says. “You can be different than your circumstances. You can be a leader. You can change things.”

Alumna Helps Students 'Gear Up' - UMass Lowell Magazine

Rumbila Abdullahi and her family came to America from Kenya before she entered high school. When she came to America, Abdullahi remembered catching on faster to the English language than her older siblings and parents did. She became not only a student with expectations of going to college —but a translator for her family members.

“I spend a lot of my time here,” Abdullahi said of Springfield Central High School. “We’re advised to challenge ourselves … But expecting students to get everything done and go through the college process can be overwhelming.”

As a future first-generation college student, Abdullahi is dealing with the pressures at home and at school to be knowledgeable and successful when it comes to getting to college. As a high school senior at Springfield Central High School and a student in GEAR UP, Abdullahi hopes to be relieved of some of the pressures she feels about the college process.

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When Massachusetts high school students graduate, they will now have the opportunity to enroll in the Commonwealth Commitment, a new agreement between the 28 public undergraduate campuses that freezes tuition & fees for entering freshman who commit to start at a community college and transfer to a state university or UMass campus. Through the plan, students will also receive 10% rebates at the end of each successfully completed semester as an incentive to stay on-track and complete their bachelor's degree in two and half years or less.

GEAR UP students from Lawrence and Lowell High Schools joined Governor Charlie Baker, Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito, Education Secretary Jim Peyser, Higher Education Commissioner Carlos Santiago and college and university presidents for the signing of the Commonwealth Commitment at Middlesex Community College.

Watch Coverage of the Event

In light of demonstrations across the country targeting police officers in the past month, Putnam and Central High school students wanted to show police officers they appreciate their sacrifice.

Students from The Gear Up program delivered cookies and coffee to the Springfield Police Department Tuesday.

The gesture was meant to show officers, that young people still view them as heroes and that their efforts have not gone unnoticed.

Channing Calcasola from Central High School in Springfield told 22News, "Because many of our students do live right in Springfield and they want to give back and show the police that they appreciate everything that they do."

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North High School GEAR UP students who were accepted to or interested in Worcester State University visited the campus for an informative and fun day. The GEAR UP students were paired up with current WSU students who are GEAR UP alumni to attend a college class and tour the campus. The WSU students spoke with the group about their transition into college, their majors, and how they are finding success as college students.Ryan Forsythe, VP for Enrollment Management also spoke with the group about the benefits of a college degree.

Kathy Taylor, 13th Year Director, organized the event with support from MassEdCO GEAR UP staff.

"People like giving back," she said. "The event was adapted to include a mentor/mentee dynamic because I know that resonates with people, and that's exactly what translated into a great day."

The day included time for group energizers, time playing pool and ping pong in the commuter's lounge, and everyone ate lunch together in the cafeteria.