Persistence puts South Lenoir students in line for college aid, earns state award

Reina Kinnaly, left, Carolina Advising Corps college advisor at South Lenoir High School, and Candi Tyndall, school counselor, go green while promoting FAFSA – the Free Application for Federal Student Aid – during College Application Week last October. South Lenoir’s efforts encouraging FAFSA completion earned the school an NC First in FAFSA Innovation Award from myFutureNC, one of six presented in the state for 2022.

Reina Kinnaly knows she can be a nagger, but she is unapologetic.

Her dogged pursuit of South Lenoir High School seniors this past school year and her insistence they complete the paperwork critical to securing college scholarships, grants and loans have earned the school an NC First in FAFSA Innovation Award from myFutureNC, one of six presented in the state for 2022.

“I annoy them, but it’s all with good intentions,” said Kinnaly, who just finished her second year as South Lenoir’s college advisor, assigned by the Carolina College Advising Corps at the University of North Carolina. “Every time I saw a student, and I knew their FAFSA wasn’t done, I was asking them about it. That was really all that was coming out of my mouth. Following up with them all the time worked.”

That direct, individualized approach increased the FAFSA completion rate at South Lenoir, as of this month, to 63.58 percent, up more than six points from last school year. Along with the face-to-face interaction, Kinnaly used letters, phone calls, texts and team presentations with the school counseling staff to encourage FAFSA completion. As a first-generation college student herself, she was able to connect on a personal level with students and families unfamiliar with the process needed to get into college and cover the costs.

“If a school’s trying to give you money, they need that FAFSA on file. A lot of students just don’t know that,” Kinnaly said. Parents’ reluctance to share required financial information is another hurdle Kinnaly worked through with one-on-one conversations and a printed guide that specified the information needed.

FAFSA – or the Free Application for Federal Student Aid – gives students access to grants, scholarships, work-study programs and loans. Its importance is magnified in a district where 77 percent of the Class of 2022 plan to go on to college, where 90 percent of the students are classified as low-income and where underutilized federal grants can pay for two years at Lenoir Community College.

“Almost every college and university will require FAFSA to be on file,” Kinnaly said. “Having the FAFSA done allows the school to distribute scholarships to them, whether it’s a needs-based scholarship that’s determined by their income or if it’s a merit-based scholarship because they’re an all-star student.”

South Lenoir’s Innovation Award is the second for an LCPS high school in two years, after North Lenoir High’s win in 2021. The award comes with a $500 grant to the school to encourage a college-going culture and to expand college access.

While she plans to stick to the direct approach at South Lenoir next school year, Kinnaly hopes to use the grant money to underwrite group sessions on financial aid for students and parents and to fund field trips to college campuses.

She and the school counselors touched base with the Class of 2023 this past spring “so they will understand what will be coming up” and she’s got her message ready for this new crop of seniors.

She will tell them: “The FAFSA process opens Oct. 1. I will hound you. Sorry.”

Not sorry.