Even as the holiday season approaches, high school seniors and other eligible students are thinking about next fall and getting the financial aid they’ll need.

Students looking to file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, are getting help through FAFSA Ready Iowa; they can meet with an aid consultant to help them complete the application and obtain the aid they’ll need.

Over $2.8 billion in grants and scholarships went unclaimed across the country last year, and FAFSA Ready Iowa is a statewide initiative to give students the opportunity to tap into that money for their own education.

But the state’s completion rate for FAFSA is at just 63 percent, and the goal of FAFSA Ready Iowa is to get that number up to at least 70 percent this year.

Application assistance is available through Andrea Gotta at the DMACC office in Knoxville City Hall. You can contact her for more information at 641-840-2026 or at ajgotta@dmacc.edu